Hopeless
by WindStar
Summary: How can someone who's so hopeless be the bearer of Hope itself? TK can not forgive himself for wrongs he committed in the past, and now he's forced to relive a traumatic experience as his friends discover the truth about something he has hidden for years.
1. Chapter 1

"**_Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars." -_** **_Kahlil Gibran_**

_I never really liked the beach…I haven't for several years now. Kari used to tell me that the beach isn't for everyone to like, but I always hated feeling like I was the only one who didn't want to go. When everyone said they wanted to celebrate the three year anniversary of our victory at the beach, I knew it was a bad idea…bad things always happen at the beach…but who am I to deny them their fun? I wish I hadn't gone…seen the look on their faces. They were looking at me just like I knew they would…just like I knew they would all look at me. _

_With all the hope that I am said to embody how is it that I can keep none for myself. In times of despair I seem to be able to shine through, think straight. But now that danger has past, time has moved on, and life has continued, I have lost any hope – any light – that I once had…_

_I'm a betrayer…worthless…and evil. _

TK's head knocked against the window of the Toyota one more time, hands absentmindedly petting Patamon in his lap. Matt glanced over from where he sat behind the wheel and then glanced back at the road. He had tried to stop his brother's head banging an hour ago, but when that had failed he resorted to simply making sure that the younger boy didn't concuss himself.

TK tapped his head again mumbling something that sounded like 'stupid.' The car stopped moving as it reached a stoplight, and Matt closed his eyes counting to ten slowly. Part of him didn't want to coddle his brother but at the same time the other part wanted nothing more then to shelter him from all the bad in the world. His hands gripped the steering wheel and he opened his eyes as another tap on the window occurred.

In the backseat Gabumon sighed as well, noting to himself that the car was beginning to look like the national convention of the fidgeting society. He met Matt's eyes in the rear-view mirror and gave him a meaningful look. The light turned green and the car started up again, driving down the street.

"Lets go to Kyoto." Matt said suddenly, breaking the increasingly thick silence. TK looked up at him, tilting his head to one side slightly.

"Why? The older boy licked his lips, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel again as he looked at the street signs as they passed.

""Why not?" Came the irrefutable response.

"We have school."

"We suddenly came down with the flu."

"We don't have any where to stay in Kyoto."

"I have a credit card for a motel."

"What about our parents?"

"We'll call them and leave a message, tell them not to worry."

"And if you don't get a message and they pick up?"

"We'll hang up, and call back until we get the answering machine." His hands tightened on the wheel. Since when did silence boy suddenly decide to play twenty questions?

"What the hell is in Kyoto?"

"Not a damn thing." Came the irritated rebuttal. There was silence for a little while. Until the distant ring of a cell phone filled the car. Neither went to answer it. It was probably buried under a pile of books in TK's backpack, or stuffed under a guitar in the back. No, it was to much trouble to answer the obscene object.

"They'll worry."

"Who?"

"Them." TK nodded his head back towards where the ringing was coming from. Another stoplight and Matt sighed, turning and reaching back, hand sifting under cases and backpacks until it met the object of desire. Sitting regularly once more he looked at the ringing annoyance and sighed. Tai. "You going to answer it?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Doesn't Matter to me."

"Then no." TK made a face, but looked back at the floor of the car as the phone continued ringing in its new resting place – the coffee holder.

"It's an 8 hour drive to Kyoto."

"So?"

"So why go there?"

"Because there's an 8 hour drive to Kyoto." The ringing stopped and the two let out a stressed breath. Patamon glanced at Gabumon in the back and the larger digimon shook his head at the little one. Now was not the time to talk, the brothers needed to talk through this not their digimon.

Then another ring filled the car and both brothers glared at it mercilessly. Why the hell wasn't the damn light changing? Matt tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, while TK clenched his fists in his lap – Patamon's rub down forgotten.

A little electronic voice filled the car once the ringing ceased. "You have one new message."

The light changed and Matt wasted no time getting on the highway and away from the stop lights. He was pissed off now. This was not the peaceful and relaxing day at the beach he had thought it would be. In fact, it was quite possibly the worst day that had occurred since the incident five years ago. It was the first time in five years that he had ever felt the urge to commit homicide.

The phone started ringing again, and this time TK glared at him, as if it was all Matt's fault that it was invading the blessed silence that had swept over the brothers. TK moved his fiery gaze back out the window and the two tried to ignore the ringing as it persisted to annoy and frustrate them.

"You have two new messages."

"Why are we going to Kyoto?" TK murmured sighing again.

"There's no one there I'm likely to kill." The younger brother looked up at his sibling, his eyes wide and quickly filling with tears. Matt attempted to avoid looking at his brother – he could never handle a leaking TK…

"I'm sorry…I…I didn't mean for…we-we should go back…" the younger boy blubbered hand clenching his shirt above his chest.

"TK, if we don't go to Kyoto, and we go back to that beach, I am going to murder Davis. So we're going to Kyoto, he gets to live another day, and I'm not going to jail. Okay?" Matt replied, blinking back his own tears that had started to form. "At this point, you're the one thing that's keeping me from going back there and butchering that boy. So please, don't ask me to turn this car around, not right now." He spared a look at his little brother, who was wide eyed and mystified. A small smile slowly crept onto the boy's face even as tears escaped their prisons.

"You'd kill Davis, for me?" Matt allowed a small laugh at that, and looking back at the road nodded.

"I'd kill for you TK, and I'd die for you. You're my little brother, and I'm not letting anything bad happen to you." The phone started ringing again and the two groaned, glaring at the object.

"Matt. Answer your damn phone." TK snapped, slouching in his seat.

"Stupid thing." Matt grumbled, grabbing the thing and looking at the name.

Kari. She was worried.

"It's for you." Matt said handing it to him without answering.

"I don't want to talk to her." TK mumbled after looking at the name.

"Back to voicemail?"

"I guess."

"You have three new messages." The electronic voice called out. The phone was placed back in the cup holder and the drive was blessed with silence once more. Then fifteen minutes later it started up again.

"Why don't you just turn it off?" TK asked finally.

"Cant. If Dad or Mom call…" Matt reasoned trailing off.

"You'll say what? 'Hey we're going to Kyoto because I'm about to kill Davis?'"

"If I have to…" He reached for the phone, and was about to turn it off when it rang again. Annoyed he looked at the name. Davis. "Davis." Matt muttered. TK looked up. Neither answered but Matt veered off to the shoulder and set the car to park.

"You have four new messages." The voice called out.

"Should we listen to them?" TK mumbled.

"Yeah…" He clicked the message button and the two waited.

"First new message; Friday at 12:55PM:" came the intro.

"Matt, it's Tai, I'm trying to get a hold of you. I know you're there so pick up the dammed phone! Look the party basically split up before we got there, but Kari explained what happened more after you left. We got a hold of Davis, what are we supposed to do? I want to pound him into the dirt, but that's not going to solve anything. Besides…Yolei and Cody are starting to ask questions…what do we tell them? Call me back!"

"Second new message; Friday at 1:15PM:"

"Tai again, look what are we supposed to do here! I could really use your help! Please call me back!"

"Third new message; Friday at 1:23PM:"

"Matt, TK, It's Kari are you alright? Davis was being a jerk after you left and Tai punched him, but now what are we supposed to do? I know that it isn't fair for us to keep calling and stuff, especially after what happened today…but we don't want to tell them anything you're not comfortable explaining. Please call back soon, and I hope you're doing well."

"I think someone likes her boyfriend." Matt stated with a shit eating grin. TK blushed at the statement.

"It's not like that…" He murmured.

"Of course it isn't. That's why she kissed you at New Year's right? And why you've been spending more time over at Tai's then your own lately." The younger brother shifted in his seat embarrassed.

"Tai…told you?"

"Of course he did. He gave me a thirty minute lecture on what he'd do to you if you dared do anything past kissing." TK looked up surprised, his face bright red and eyes wide.

"You told him I wouldn't right?"

"Sure…what kind of brother would I be if I didn't back you up until you got laid?"

"I don't want to, I didn't, you'd…but I-"

"I'm teasing you TK, chill out." The musician said shaking his head with a smirk.

"Forth new message, Friday at 1:38PM:" the electronic voice called out, dragging the attention back to the object.

"Look…I'm sorry about what happened okay. I shouldn't have tried to force you to do something you didn't want to do." Davis's voice mumbled. Matt glared at it, it was obvious that Davis wasn't sorry, and he could almost hear Tai in the background threatening him to be nice. "Just…sorry. Is it fine now?!" TK frowned listening closer.

"No it's not!" Came a shouted response from what sounded like all of the original digidestined at once. "Look I don't see why I have to apologize again, I mean I already-"

"Davis if you don't apologize sincerely I am never speaking to you again!" Kari snapped from behind him.

They didn't get to hear the end of the message because at that particular moment the message had maxed out it's time and had ended automatically.

"Well that was….sincere." TK muttered grabbing the phone from Matt and pressing the power button before throwing it at the back seat. Gabumon ducked as it hit just past his right ear and Matt snapped at TK to be more careful. "I hate him."

"You have a right to." Matt replied turning on his blinker and getting back on the road.

"Are we going to have to talk about it?" The younger boy asked, shrinking back into his seat again.

"Not if you don't want to."

"The waiting is worse."

"You don't have to."

"I'll be thinking about it."

"Does it hurt?"

"What?"

"Your chest?"

"No."

"Good."

_I sat down on the beach towel, under the umbrella. Kari was sitting next to me, her arm around my waist as her head lay on my shoulder. I had placed an arm around her shoulder and we were just watching the waves, waiting for Yolei and the others to arrive. I leaned back and we lay next to each other for a while enjoying the peace. It was so quiet I almost fell asleep listening to the sea. _

_Of course, things wouldn't stay that way for long. A few minutes later there came the sound of stomping feat, and though both of us had our eyes closed it was easy to tell who it was. _

"_Get your hands of my girl!" Davis's voice came screaming across the beach. Behind him I could almost see Cody and Yolei shaking their heads at his idiocy._

"_She's not your girl Davis, they started dating three months ago…" Yolei said exasperated. _

"_It doesn't matter he doesn't have to do public displays of affection to prove his point!" He shot back angrily. _

"_What does PDA have to do with anything? We're at the beach for goodness sakes! All the couples are together at the beach!" She yelled. _

_Kari put an arm around my chest and nuzzled her head into the crook of my neck and I bit my lip to stop from laughing. She was doing this on purpose. She used to tease Davis all the time about it when we weren't dating; rooting me on in stead of him, constantly agreeing with me instead, but now it was different…now she was happy to hold my hand in public just to annoy him. Or at times like this, completely ignore him and lay beside me in content. _

"_Awe, aren't they cute together?" Kari started laughing and moved to sit up but I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kept her down. _

"_Where are you going?" I muttered. She laughed again and this time I let her go._

"_No where." She replied, then looking up at the others "Hey where's everyone else?" _

"_Tai called ahead and said that his car broke down on the way to pick up Izzi, and that Matt needed to go pick him up after Sora and Joe. Then Matt called saying that he was going to pick Ken up at the station so he didn't have to walk or take the bus." Cody said sitting down on the beach towels that Kari and I had lain out a little while ago. _

"_Wow that car has to be packed with everyone _and_ their digimon." Kari stated in awe. I opened my eyes and sat up, noticing that Yolei didn't have a shirt on – only her bathing suit and both Cody and Davis were topless. I looked down at my own shirt and sighed. I hated swimming. _

"_We packed a picnic basket with enough food to feed the Russian Army so help yourselves." I said motioning to the large basket near the umbrella pole. Instantly with a flurry of wings Veemon, Hawkmon, and Armadillomon had pounced on it. To the right Patamon and Gatomon were rolling their eyes. _

"_They're gonna get fat from all of the eating they do." Gatomon complained arching her back and stretching out in the sun. _

"_Like this?" And in retaliation my digimon blew himself up like a balloon using his wings for emphasis. Everyone laughed at the sight and with a click of a camera, Kari had taken a picture of it. _

_A little while later everyone was splashing in the ocean using the now de-digivolved Armadillomon as a beach ball. Everything was going fine until Davis made a comment on how I was still wearing a T-Shirt. _

"_What's wrong with wearing a T-shirt?" I asked looking down at my favorite T. _

"_You're at the beach man, just take it off." He said shrugging make a move t grab it. I slapped the hand away, taking a step back._

"_No." I glared at him, one hand clenching my shirt. He ran towards me and made a move to grab at my shirt. _

"_Oh boy, here we go again." Yolei muttered crossing her arms._

"_Cant they stop fighting for one day?" Cody asked annoyed. _

_Davis grabbed the bottom of my shirt tugging it upward, as I pushed it down, punching at him. He let go of it and punched back, I blocked it and ducked under it as he threw another. _

"_Davis stop it!" I snapped shoving him backwards. He dove towards me, knocking me back into the water. I gasped, inhaling a large amount of water. Kicking him off me I threw myself to my feat, gasping and gagging. He jumped back at me and we fell into the ocean once more. I pushed him off me once more and ran to the shoreline, stumbling until I was safely on shore. _

"_If they don't stop one of them is going to drown or get seriously hurt!" Upamon said from his spot in Cody's arms. _

"_Davis stop hitting him!" Kari yelled angrily as the boy in question threw another first as he tried to grab my shirt again. She started running towards us. "TK no fighting!" I paused, glancing at her, and my hesitation proved just enough for Davis to get a grip – literally. He grabbed it and tugged backwards. "Davis if you keep it up I'll hate you for ever!" she screamed just as the shirt ripped. My arms covered my chest just as Kari reached us and smacked him. _

_Utter silence. _

_Everyone was looking at me, more specifically my chest. I knew what they saw, the huge disfiguring scar that reached from my shoulders to my hip, branching off and apart like a spider-web. _

_I couldn't look at them. People say there's no reason to be ashamed for appearances. There is, especially when they are gained from dark consequence. _

"_What's that…on your chest TK?" Yolei asked, her hand covering her mouth. Kari took the beach towel from her shoulders and handed it to me. I didn't know what to do, my mind just went blank and I turned and ran. _

"_TK!" Kari called, and I heard her chasing after me. Up on the street I saw Matt's car and the other digidestined walking down towards us. _

"_Hey look a welcoming committee!" Tai said laughing as he saw Kari and me running towards them. _

"_TK? What's wrong?" Matt asked placing the guitar case he was holding on the ground as I propelled myself into his arms._

"_Take me home." I whispered refusing to let go. I still had that childlike fantasy that if there was ever a problem he could fix it…he always has…_

"_What? What happened?" He asked, though I knew he wasn't asking me. _

"_Davis…he ripped his shirt off and…" She said, trailing off and making a motion towards me that I noticed out of the corner of my eye. I could feel Matt tensing, his hold tightening around me, and I could almost hear the growl in the back of his throat. Tai placed a hand on Matt's shoulder, keeping him from charging down the beach towards him._

"_Take TK home, we'll deal with this." He said. "If we cant, we'll call you, k?" Matt nodded and led me towards the car. I could hear Ken asking Kari what had happened and I groaned, I didn't want to deal with this. Not now. _

_Once we had gotten inside Matt reached into the back and tossed me a new shirt. I immediately put it on as he rolled down the window on my side. Instantly Patamon flew through, looking very worried. _

_Gabumon was already in the back as the car pulled off the curb and down the street. I sighed rolling towards the window and banged my head against it. This day couldn't get any worse. _

Windstar: Chapter one's done. This story will encompass many different POVs and things of the like, hope you enjoy. I'm not sure when the next update will be but they're long 'n stuff like that. I'm taking some time away from my novel to write this since its break and I have some more time. Forgive me if I go on hiatus once school starts up again though.

Disclaimer: If I owned it. I wouldn't be on I would be on TV. All rights to some crazy Japanese guy and his American counterpart.


	2. Chapter 2

"_**Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse." – Lily Tomlin**_

The lock to the motel room clicked as the door was eased open. Matt threw his keys down on a nightstand as he closed the door behind them, then he looked over as TK collapsed on the bed closest to the window. He moved to the opposite bed and flopped down on it, covering his face with his hands.

"You okay?" TK asked from across the room. Matt laughed at that, leave it to TK to be worried about him at a time like this.

"I'm fine. I should be asking you that." He replied turning over and looking at his brother.

"I'm…alright." He said with a sad look on his face. Then turning over: "Just ask me what you've been itching to get out since I got in the car…" Matt paused but shook his head as he watched Gabumon and Patamon move to snuggle next to their respective digidestined.

"Why haven't you told them yourself? You've had years…"

"It never came up…" TK reasoned.

"TK that's no excuse, since when does "hey did you know I was brutalized when I was nine" ever come up in a normal conversation?" Instantly the calm and sullen demeanor of the younger brother vanished as he turned back to face Matt with a hateful fury in his eyes.

"Since when were you a shrink?! You want me to just go up to them and sit them down over a nice cup of tea and explain it to them?! How the hell would I do that?! It was never relevant! It was never prudent! Why the hell should they have to know about it anyway!" He shouted, standing up and moving across the room. "Honestly Matt you think you have everything figured and you're just sitting there judging me about why I haven't told them? My god, what's wrong with you?!"

"Don't sit there and assume you're alone in this TK, in case you haven't remembered, all of the original digidestined were there, and we all were hurt by what happened. And judging you?! What the hell TK?! How can I be judging you when you're sitting there moping like a baby?! Chill out and think for a moment. You've had plenty of opportunities to talk to them about it. Remember when Cody asked me about why you get so pissed about the powers of darkness! There was a damn good time to talk to him about it!" 

"I don't want to be fucking judged, I don't want them to pity me, and most of all I don't want them to think I cant do anything without a chaperone again!"

"TK back then, we were all scared, and you weren't making things much easier on any of us. You make it sound like we forced people to follow you around. You're the one who got that weird shadow complex. We had to get dad and mom to agree to let me and you stay together for two months before you finally calmed down. So stop with your ego trip and self pity and get a damn grip kid!"

"I'm not a little kid anymore."

"Oh yeah, well you're acting like it!" The two glared at each other for a while before finally a voice of reason filtered in.

"You both are very tired, you should get some sleep and then you can finish this tomorrow." Gabumon said as Patamon pushed back the covers on TK's bed for him. The younger boy grumbled but his digimon wouldn't hear of it, and literally pushed him into the bed.

The lights went out and within moments Matt could hear his brother's deep breathing of sleep. Silently he slid out of his bed, whispering for Gabumon to stay there. Grabbing his cell phone and his wallet from his jacket, he slipped out of the room and made his way to the Twenty Four Hour Coffee Shop they had passed while making their way to the small motel. He placed went inside, ordering a large coffee and a chocolate cupcake that had eyed him in the window box.

He checked the time on his phone -11:42 - before calling his dad. Five rings hit the answering machine and he took a deep breath ready to explain.

"Umm…Hi dad it's Matt, just calling to tell you not to worry and that TK and I are fine. Umm, we kind of took a road trip, and we wont be home for a while. I know we have school and stuff, but just tell them we got sick okay? It's important…things are just a little hectic right now, but we'll be home soon. Tell mom for me okay?" He closed the phone without another word, and sighed, slumping into a chair and rubbing his face. The brothers had stopped for lunch and dinner on their trip and the near twelve hour drive was the result of a huge traffic jam on top of that. Taking a sip of his coffee he opened the phone once more and called Tai's cell – not surprised in the least when he answered it in a huff.

"Matt!? Where the hell have you been, I've been trying to reach you all day!" He yelled causing the younger teen to move the phone from his ear.

"Sorry man…look we're in Kyoto." He said silently, taking another sip of the coffee he desperately needed. Then he peeled off some of the cake and swallowed it.

"Kyoto?! How the hell did you get to Kyoto!?"

"It's near midnight Tai, you do the math. We drove. What happened after we left? Kari said you punched him"

"Yeah well…he was getting on my nerves." Tai mumbled. "They all came down to my house. They're all here now I can put you on speakerphone if you want." 

"No I can't say anything without TK's permission, and he's passed out in the motel..." Matt mumbled.

"You sound like _you're _passing out. Where are you?"

"Kyoto…"

"I got that, but you said TK was in the motel so you're not? Where are you?"

"Some coffee shop across the street…" Matt rested his head down on the table, he was exhausted and this day couldn't get any worse.

"Look you go back to the motel, and I'll keep them in the dark for now. By the way, did you call your band to let them know you weren't going to practice?"

"No practice for a while our drummer popped a hole in his snare and he needs to get it fixed, but yeah, I'll call you tomorrow." He hung up and shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee before finishing up the rest of his cupcake and heading out the door.

He stood on the street corner waiting for the light to change, watching the midnight drivers go by. Finally it was his turn and he stepped off the curb. The sound of screeching tires around the corner drew his attention to his right as a car slammed on its breaks.

Miles away Tai had turned on his television; and everyone was sitting around it because no one could sleep. They were channel surfing when all of a sudden a picture of Matt popped up on the screen.

"In other news, teenage rock star Matt Ishida was involved in a car accident late this night. There is no further information at this time on the teen's condition, and parents and family members are still being contacted at this time."

It just got worse.

_**Five years earlier**_

_Izzi nearly fell out of his chair as Gennai appeared on his computer screen. His eyes widened as he clicked open the email. Instantly he was running to the phone, dialing everyone's number as fast as he could. _

"_Hey this is Tai -"_

"_Tai! It's Izzi you and Kari get over here right now its' important, bring your digivices!" He hung up and dialed Matt, then Sora, then Jo, Mimi, and TK delivering the same message each time. After five hours everyone had assembled, albeit rather annoyed and frustrated. _

"_Izzi what's the big idea? Your message was kind of cryptic." Matt said, tossing his cell phone into the air. "Bring our digivices? What for?" _

"_Yeah, and this better be good, what if we had plans!?" Mimi asked as though she was astounded by his audacity. _

"_Plans can wait. Gennai sent me an email!" Izzi announced without further adu. Moving to his already open laptop, he opened the file and allowed everyone to gather around as the olden gentleman appeared on the screen._

"_Well hello there Izzi!" He said happily waving. "I've recently discovered something and I need some help here in the digital world from you all. You'll be able to travel to and from the digital world at will for a short period of time until this if over. You'll need your crests and digivices and when you're ready to leave, hold your digivices to the screen and say 'digiport open' and you'll find yourself in the digital world. Thanks and see you soon!"_

_For a split second nobody moved. Then in a flurry of questions and excitement plans were being thrown out as the drawing board was cleared. Spring Break had just started and everyone knew exactly where to spend their holiday. Immediately phone calls home were being made and everyone was rushing back and forth grabbing bags of food and extra items to make it really a vacation. _

_Sleeping bags, lighters, and hiking packs ready everyone joined around the computer. Taking a deep breath the held up their digivices, and at once they all said:_

"_Digiport open!" Instantly a blinding light filled the room and everyone yelped in surprise as they fell through the portal reappearing on the other side. They landed with a crash, everyone on top of each other and in a very awkward position. However they were interrupted from assessing their predicament when some very familiar voices started calling their names. Looking up they saw coming towards them their very best digi-friends._

"_Tai!" Agumon shouted running towards him and leaping into his arms. His actions were followed to the leap by the others – only the names they called were the names of their own personal digidestined. _

"_Patamon!" TK yelled as his orange companion failed to appear with the rest of them. Matt looked over at him and then looked around. The little digimon was no where in sight. "Patamon, where are you! I'm back! It's TK!"_

"_Patamon!" Matt called out, garnering no response. "Don't worry TK, we'll find him." He said trying to smile reassuringly to his little brother. _

"_You know, Patamon's been acting weird lately." Gabumon said slipping his paw into Matt's hand and snuggling his head against his arm. He and the other digimon sure missed their humans. _

"_Weird? He's not sick is he?" TK asked moving closer to him. _

"_Oh no, nothing like that, he's been flying off for long periods of time towards the mountains with Gennai and then they come back together. We asked what they were up to but they wouldn't say." _

"_You see Gennai on a regular basis now?" Sora asked as they all made a form of mutated circle together. _

"_Every so often he appears yeah." Tentomon said happily. _

"_Well that's a lot more convenient then it was when we needed him." Tai mumbled crossing his arms. "Anyway, we're here, what does he need us for?"_

"_TK!" A high pitched voice full of love and excitement yelled, and instantaneously the young blonde was attacked from behind by the orange blob of fluff before it burrowed it's way under his hat and out the other side to peer into his face. Arms flying up to grab and hug the digimon close to his chest, TK gave a whoop of delight. _

"_Patamon you're here! You're really here! I thought I'd never see you again!" He cried out snuggling closer to his friend. Little arms wrapped as far as they could around him._

"_Well you certainly wasted no time in getting here." Came the cheery voice of the older gent. _

"_Gennai!" Everybody called out seeing him make his way over to their merry group. He sat down in the deformed circle and smiled at them all, greeting them by name – a feat which took several minutes as small talk had ensued during the hellos. _

"_What do you need us for Gennai?" Jo asked placing his digi-pal in his lap. _

"_Usually I try not to bother digidestined who have done their civic duty to our world already, but this time it's serious. Something is keeping the digital world from healing itself." _

"_What do you mean?" Mimi questioned, her hands absentmindedly playing with Palmon's leafs. _

"_Well after you defeated the four masters and File Island was recreated, we thought that the digital world would slowly start to heal itself. To be completely frank – it hasn't, which worries me." The man's usually sunny manor had vanished in a complete moment of severity. Something was seriously wrong with the digital world. "The data's restoration no longer is doing its job and there seems to be a dark force that's keeping things from happening the way they should be. What's a mixed blessing – the digieggs are hatching. While it's a grand and wonderful thing they're hatching into a land that's to crowded. There's not enough room for every digimon that ever existed on one island. _

_Patamon and I have gone to the mountains to see if anything was left from the four masters, or Devimon, or even Myotismon – nothing. Not even one drop or crumb to suggest anything wrong. We keep searching but there's still no result. We need you to see if you can find anything out of the ordinary, because aside from the overpopulation we're experiencing the digimon are getting restless. They've started attacking _each other _instead of living in harmony. This shouldn't be happening." _

"_Don't worry Gennai, we'll help!" Tai said looking everyone in the eyes. Everyone nodded; there was no way the digital world was going to be destroyed so soon after they fixed it. _

"_That's good to hear." Gennai smiled. "Well I had better be going back to the mountains to see if I can find anything, are you coming Patamon?" The orange digimon looked up from TK's lap at the little boy's soulful eyes. They were pleading for him not to leave and he couldn't just say no. _

"_I'll catch up with you later Gennai I'm going to stay here for a while." The man nodded and they all said their goodbyes as he started back from whence he came. _

_It was getting late though, and the kids scurried down to the beach where they spent their first night ever at the digital world. They laughed and reminisced on old time. After they built a fire Matt took out his harmonica and started to blow away a new tune and everyone joked around and danced until no one could move anymore. _

_Patamon snuggled next to TK as he climbed into his sleeping bag. Matt had set himself up nearby but not to close to be considered protective – something he had been working on and was getting increasingly better at. Then when everyone was falling asleep and no one had any intent on waking up until morning everything went wrong. _

_Far far away on the peak of Infinity Mountain a new evil had been born. Whispering into the night the command that would change the course of the digidestineds future forever was spoken. While two figures behind the speaker struggled to get out of their bindings and warn the digidestined, it was no use._

"_Bring little boy Hope to me. Whenever he's out of the picture those digidestined fools fall apart. With just a little push they'll be killing each other for me." The cruel voice said in typical digimon evil style. Back down on the beach Patamon opened his eyes, showing for only a split second they were red – before they changed back to their normal blue. _

_He sat up pushing TK awake. The little boy opened his big trusting eyes and yawned into the night. _

"_Patamon? What's going on? 'm tired…" He whispered trying to snuggle back into a slumber. _

"_I need to leave TK don't you wanna say good bye?" The orange digimon asked gently awakening the boy further before flapping away a few feet. _

"_Do you have to go?" the blonde asked sitting up and crawling out of the sleeping bag and following his tiny friend into the woods a bit._

"_TK?" He turned at the sound of his name. Matt had been alerted to the shifting. _

"_I'm just gonna say goodbye to Patamon Matt, don't worry." The boy said, waiting until Matt nodded and rolled back to sleep. _

"_Yes TK. I'm sorry." Patamon answered finally before they walked on for a little bit. TK reached out and plucked his friend from the sky, snuggling him closely. _

"_Come back soon okay?" little paws against his chest Patamon nodded before looking into TK's big eyes. _

"_Don't worry…we'll see each other…real soon." However the boy had noticed the change a second before the attack had occurred. Was it something in the voice? The position? Or perhaps it was simply good instincts, but regardless of what alerted the boy – he hardly had the time to react. _

_Claws dug into his chest as his friend mutated into a large and ugly beast. It slashed through the PJs the boy was wearing and tore through his flesh as though it was paper. What should have been a flawless execution was cut short when heavy teeth bit into it's body and it's prey was pulled out from underneath him. _

"_Garurumon kill him!" an infuriated voice of a pissed off brother shouted. Matt looked down at the bloody and sobbing mess that was his brother. The boy was clearly going into shock and had started to convulse in his arms. _

"_M-Matt…it-it hurts!" His small hands clutched at Matt's jacket as his body shook once more. _

"_Hold on little brother I got you." Matt whispered standing and starting to make his way back to camp when something struck him _hard _on the side of his head. He crumpled to the ground, TK rolling away from him. Somewhere seemingly far away he heard a familiar voice calling his name, but his blurry vision was solely focused on getting TK to safety. He struggled to his feat, vision threatening to disappear on him in the already dark night. "T…K…hold on…" Matt tried but something grabbed him by the collar and propelled him into a nearby tree. _

_Garurumon growled menacingly as he advanced on the second creature that was advancing yet again on Matt. He would have attacked sooner to save the boy if it hadn't have been for the first beast, and now with his digidestined completely blacked out there was nothing he could do but follow his instincts on one of the hardest choices he would ever have to make. _

"_Stand down or the boy will die." The creature nearest to Matt had wrapped what appeared to be something very similar to Palmon's vines around his neck and was promptly strangling him. "Save Friendship or save Hope." Garurumon didn't want to press his luck by asking about the phrasing of that sentence. "Which will it be…"_

"_Are you going to…kill…TK?" Garurumon dared to ask, though he knew his time was running short. Matt couldn't hold on much longer. _

"_No." The grip on the vines tightened and the boy chocked unconsciously. _

"_Let him go!" Garurumon yelled turning into Gabumon and running towards his digidestined. Instantly the vines were released and Matt fell into his friend's open arms as TK was carried off into the night. _

_Gabumon half carried half dragged the older brother back to the campsite, only to find everyone still asleep. He felt himself grow angry over how easily their fight had been ignored that night. Soon he was yelling for everyone to wake up, and within moments the group was grumpy, tired, and extremely worried. Matt had yet to wake up, and Jo was busy checking his vitals and areas of contact to make sure he hadn't broken or damaged anything. _

"_I cant say anything about the head or back injuries because I don't have an MRI or an XRay machine, but his heart rate is stable and he's breathing alright. He should wake up anytime now." Jo said looking up at everyone's worried faces. _

_True to his word, not fifteen minutes later the boy's eyes had started to open and his vision was sliding back into place. Not surprisingly however, the first word out of his mouth was his brother's name. _

"_TK?" Matt asked groggily, raising one hand to touch the lightly bleeding wound on his head (as well as to massage the growing headache). "Is he alright? Did you…get him in time…?" He mumbled. When no one answered he moved his hand, studying everyone's faces. Kari looked on the verge of tears and was hugging her brother's side for dear life. Mimi and Jo were side by side seemingly ignoring the comment and avoiding his gaze. However the worst look, was that of Gabumon, who refused to look at him, and had gone as far as to turn his back to the boy. Matt pushed himself up, Sora moving to help him so he didn't hurt himself more. _

"_Matt-" She tried, but it was ignored._

"_Where is he?" He snapped. Looking directly at his digimon. "Dammitt Gabumon tell me what happened? Where's my brother!?" _

"_Gone…they took him." And just then, Matt felt as though his life had just come crashing down. _

_How could things possibly get worse?_

Sirens filled the night, but the worst sound was the harsh banging on the door to his room that had brought the terrible news. Even as TK sat in the waiting room of the hospital he could only think of one thing. Things always got worse.

Windstar: Sorry that took a while. I had an idea running then I redid it half way through. Hope you enjoy.

By the way. If you have the time and energy to sign on and click the alert button, leave a message saying 'nice story' or something too. Because it pisses me off when I get alerted or favorited and that person didn't even bother to leave a message. Honestly.


	3. Chapter 3

"**_You're not going to find thousands of people dying in our hospitals. You are going to find thousands suffering." Ramon Diaz Vallina _**

"Ta-care-roo, Takeru Takaishi, Matt's little brother. Now is he okay?" TK demanded after what seemed to be the thousandth time. The nurses just couldn't seem to get their heads wrapped around the idea that the great 'Yamato (Matt) Ishida' had a younger brother, let alone with a different last name. It had been over forty five minutes since he had managed to get to the hospital.

Unfortunately for the two digimon, they had to lay completely lifeless the whole time, and that included not yelling at the nurses or baking up TK with his _impossible _claim to be Matt's brother. Patamon and Gabumon were laying doll-like at his feat as TK slammed his hands down on the desk in frustration.

"Why can't you just tell me if my brother is alright?" He asked for the umpteenth time that night.

"We can't tell anyone besides family members at this time." The nurse replied annoyed.

"But I _am _his family. I'm his little brother! Why can't you just believe me?!" He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. If he didn't get results soon he was just going to have to find out himself, and that might get him thrown out of the hospital…

"We are not Mr. Ishida's normal hospital, and we don't have his records nor his insurance. How can we be sure that you're his sibling? He's a famous musician, you could be working for the press to find out information, and we cannot give it to you! You're not even trying to be subtle, you don't even have the same last names!"

"My parents are divorced god damn it! He lives with my dad, and I live with our mom!" He slammed his hand into his jacket pocket. It had been raining furiously outside and he was drenched head to toe. The run to the hospital had been breath taking but at least the jacket provided some use in keeping his wallet from drenching to badly.

Opening up the leather pouch he removed a picture from the photograph section, turning it over and thrusting it in their faces. It was a photograph taken at their last Christmas party. Matt had one arm around his shoulder and another around Tai. Tai had one of _his _arms around Kari who's head was on TK's shoulder. Both were sporting peace signs and there were big smiles on everyone's faces, except for Davis who was in the back fuming. However his beat red face was covered by TK's thumb as he shoved it at the nurse in anger.

"Right here. Would you agree that this is Matt?!" The nurse moved her glasses up her nose and inspected the picture thoroughly. Then looking up at the boy, she double checked her findings and frowned at him.

"This is no proof at all, now if you are who you say you are, than you'll have to show accurate proof or wait until your parents get here. If not than leave immediately and wait until the official statement is released to the public." TK kicked the station's wall, eyes flaring in intense anger.

"I have four other pictures in here, as well as my parents' cell phones and friends who would swear it. For god's sake if you still won't take that then look on line at his fan sites! They state he has a brother, and that his name is TK!" The woman glared at him and he glared right back. There was no way he was backing down until he had information on his brother.

At that exact moment his cell phone rang. He angrily grabbed it from his pocket and opened it.

"What!?" He yelled into the object, taking all his anger out on the machine. The nurse across from him glared and opened up a web browser before searching for Matt's website.

"TK is that you?" Damn it. He let out a harsh breath. He seriously didn't want to deal with his mother right now, he wanted to deal with this nurse, and he wanted to see his brother!

"Yeah mom it's me." He said softer with less conviction.

"Oh thank God. We thought that if you were with Matt they wouldn't have announced it on TV and we were worried you were hurt badly also. Are you okay? Were you in the accident?"

"I'm fine mom, I wasn't with him. Mom-"

"Thank God….do you know anything?"

"Mom-"

"Is he in surgery?"

"Mom-"

"Is it bad? Is it terrible?"

"_Mom_!" He shouted calling attention to him in the waiting room. "I don't know anything, right now I'm trying to prove to the nurse at the desk I'm his brother!"

"You're what? They cant tell you you're not his brother! Hold on, your father wants to speak to them. Give them the phone."

"What? Dad? But-"

"Son?"

"Hi dad…" TK mumbled as the new voice came on the phone.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine dad."

"The nurse wont let you know anything?"

"I'm not his brother apparently."

"Put them on the phone."

"Yes sir…" He said in mock discipline, imagining the eye roll he was getting because of it. "Dad wants to speak with you." He handed the phone to the nurse who answered it quite rudely.

"Who is this?" Though TK couldn't hear what was happening on the other end, the look of pure horror that came across the woman's face clearly told him that Mr. Ishida was definitely not taking any prisoners. She quickly started typing on her computer inputting information and insurance card numbers. When she dared to ask what Matt and his 'supposed' brother were doing in Kyoto without their parents they were she physically jumped as the screamed voice told her about the road trip they had taken and that she had no right to tell TK that he was a liar.

Within moments the phone was handed back to him and TK heard his father's voice telling him that he had taken care of everything. He also said that while they were rushing to get on the train to Kyoto they had run into TK and Matt's friends, and they were sitting next to them. They wanted to know if they could talk to him, but at that particular moment a doctor came out of the 'Staff Only' doors and called for any family member of Yamato Ishida. He instantly told him about the doctor and then hung up, running to the man and saying that he was Matt's younger brother.

_**Five Years Earlier**_

"_Matt you need to lay down, you need to rest!" Sora said going to his side as he was shoving his sleeping bag and belongings into his backpack. He hadn't stopped moving or spoken to anyone since he heard that TK had been taken. She places his hands on his, dragging them from zipping his pack. He avoided her gaze, glaring down at the ground and biting his tongue. This wasn't Sora's fault. He wasn't going to yell at her. He wasn't. "We'll find TK but right now you need to rest. You're still hurt! You're not good to anyone hurt!" _

"_Hurt?! Hurt?! His chest was _torn_ open, and you think _I'm _hurt?!" Okay so not yelling wasn't working. "You think that I'm just going to sit here and take a nap, while I know my little brother is out there bleeding to death? Are you insane?" His eyes looked accusingly at everyone else. They were staring at him looking like deer in headlights. "You all were doing just that when this happened – napping, sleeping! If you'd have been awake then TK would still be here! No one would be _hurt_!" _

_Tai moved over to him and he glared menacingly at him, but then something happened that was completely different from anything that had ever happened before in times like this. Tai bent down and began packing up TK's belongings. _

"_You're right." He said, still looking at the sleeping bag that he was rolling up. "We should have been there. You noticed that something was wrong, and you followed your gut, but we didn't." He looked up and met Matt's gaze. "But we can't change that right now. We can't just sit here, but we can't work ourselves to complete exhaustion. We need to pace ourselves. We don't have much time, but we're gonna find TK Matt, I promise." _

_For a moment everyone was still, no one dared speak for fear of breaking the fragile peace that had formed. However Matt just nodded, pulling his pack on and helping Tai and Sora to their feat. _

"_When we find this son of a bitch…" He started looking both of them in their eyes. "I'm going to kill him and anyone who helped him." _

_On the peak of Infinity, Patamon sniffled again. To his right a man who was bound and gagged vowed to help Matt on his quest for vengeance. The tall creature before them growled in annoyance. Things had not gone completely his way that night. He had intended for a plane and easy collection of boy Hope. That had gone messy. Furthermore, Friendship had seen her secret weapon. Things had gone bad. Very. Very. Bad. _

_The door to the room opened and he turned and glared as the two beasts dragged the unconscious and dying boy into the room. Blood from his intense gashes had drenched his body; and he would not last another minute if one more ounce of blood bled out. _

"_You fools! I told you all to collect him, not kill him!" He slapped them both hard, the boy falling to the floor in a mess. His eyes had opened but he was sure they were unseeing and he was clearly at the end of his rope. _

_The orange digimon behind them cried out when he saw the child, blank eyes staring straight at him. Fat tears were slipping from the winged rookie's eyes as he struggled to get out of his bonds. _

"_TK…TK…I'm here…I'll protect you…" He cried trying to get closer to the boy, but the boy lay still and lifeless. _

_The tall form of their captor grabbed the child and turned him belly side up. His hands aimed at him he opened his mouth to use his digimon power._

"_No, please! Don't hurt him anymore!" The sobbing rookie cried trying still harder to get to them. He glared at him before looking at the child. _

"_Silk Wrap!" He called out, and instantly the boy's chest was wrapped tightly in what appeared to be silk scarves. The blood sufficiently clotted and denied anyway out, he'd be forced to heal. He glanced at his gagged captive and smirked. _

"_Did you really think I'd let the boy just die when I went through all the trouble to corrupt him and his pitiful friends?" The captive struggled against his bonds trying to say something but being forced to silence. "It's a shame though. I really would have liked to reap havoc on him. I suppose my little experiment will have to do for now though." He tossed something into the air and looking back down at the boy he kneeled. Placing the object on his upper shoulder blade He slid it into the skin as though it were a coin entering a slot. "Besides…I still needed the guinea pig." _

_Standing he turned and glared at the beasts that had brought TK to him. He yelled for them to come to him and they did. Their figures grotesque for they had none of their own. Only parts of others. Disfigured monsters in everyone else's eyes until the onlookers were fooled, that's what they were. _

"_Make sure he doesn't try to escape. Don't you dare harm him though. Got that, Miragemon? Change into something that wont make him want to destroy you." The two nodded changing their shape into people that the boy would trust. The images of Matt and Tai filled the room and the gagged man started screaming behind his bindings. The two fake teens just smirked at him as they leaned against opposite walls. _

_The tall figure moved towards the screaming old man and pulled the gag from his mouth. The man glared at him with all his might, but the digimon didn't budge, in fact – he smirked._

"_You'll never get away with this Abyssmon. Even without my help, the digidestined will defeat you." He said angrily. _

"_But Gennai…you've seen what I've done already. They won't check the mountains because you'll be telling them that there's no reason to, that you've got it covered. Patamon will go back and tell them that you said goodbye to little TK and left – that he was attacked while Patamon was gone. And the boy? Within days he'll be under my control, and how long do you think his brother is going to last without blaming the others? They'll be fighting in no time, and when I arrive bringing Hope back to them…they'll see that he's sufficiently…hopeless. Count on it Gennai. No bright lights, no overpowering force. No, these little brats will be destroyed, and this time - for good." With a snap of his fingers, Patamon and Gennai both fell though the floor and into a separate room – far away from their digidestined friend. Abyssmon looked at the screens before them that showed the digidestined hiking across File Island, then with a glance down at TK he turned them off and walked from the room – locking it behind him. _

_Down wit the group Gabumon caught Matt for the third time in an hour. They had just rounded a bend, roughly twenty feet ahead of the others. They hadn't seen the fall (and were still around the corner), but the furry digimon had an armful of human to prove it did. The boy was breathing heavily into the digimon's coat, sweat dripping from his brow._

"_Matt…are you okay?" The rookie asked as the boy struggled to stand. _

"_Need to keep moving…gotta find TK…" the blonde whispered as his legs fell out from under him again. Gabumon frowned as he looked at the red streak that had appeared on his fur. Then looking intently at Matt he growled in frustration, shaking the boy's shoulder to thoroughly get his attention. _

"_You're bleeding still Matt?" The boy put a hand on his head and forced himself back to his feet, stumbling forward a meter or two. _

"_It's just a scratch."_

"_It's been hours since the attack Matt! You could be bleeding to death!" _

"_I'm fine! It's just a scratch!" The blonde snapped walking normally as the others rounded the corner and had started to catch up with them. _

"_But-"_

"_Don't." Matt glared at the digimon, and Gabumon closed his mouth. However he went in front of the boy and looked at him closely. He snorted in annoyance. That was no scratch. It was a downright gash that used to be hidden by his hair; however the extensive bleeding had caused it to turn red, and was now bleeding down his neck. _

"_You're no good to anyone dead." Gabumon mumbled quietly before reaching up and holding the boy's hand, giving him more support to walk on without looking mildly suspicious. _

_The bleeding had stopped after a long period of time. The eldest Ishida boy had pulled his hood up when it had begun to get slightly obvious there was something wrong, and had hidden it until the very end. They came across a lake where Mimi had demanded a rest, and Gabumon helped wash the blood from Matt's face, neck, and hair. _

_Tai walked over to them and sat next to him for a moment, when the two had finished. Matt had his arms wrapped around his knees and his chin rested just behind them. The brunette sighed, leaning back on his palms and looking up at the pale dawn that was rising. _

"_If Kari was taken, I don't know what I'd do." He whispered into the light. When he wasn't answered he went on. "I probably would hunt down every last thing on this planet until I found her, and when everything was gone, I'd destroy everything on earth." Tai glanced at Matt who was peering at him from behind his long bangs. "But you know. It's not going to help anything. We both love our siblings Matt, that's why we're good at being older. You told me once that you're the one who chose to live with your dad, because you wanted TK to have a mother to raise him. Matt…if you're going to give up things in your life to make sure he's happy, that's fine, but you're life? You keep up, at this pace, and he's not going to have a brother to come back to." _

_Matt took a deep breath and sighed. Tai was right. He hated to admit it, but Tai was right. On that note, since when the hell did Tai become so mature? Gabumon put the thoughts into words when he spoke up._

"_You've grown up a lot in the past year Tai." The brunette laughed shaking his head stupidly. _

"_Hey hey, I'm not making complete sense all the time just yet!" A giggle escaped Matt's lips before the boy turned to his friend at last. _

"_I'm glad to have you as a friend Tai." He spared Goggle-brain a smile, only to be returned with a goofy grin. "But I need to find TK." Tai met his gaze with a serious look. _

"_Matt what happened back there? We know TK got kidnapped, we know he was hurt, and we know you were knocked out, but what _happened_?" _

Windstar: The reason I mention Matt as Yamato is basically because as seen in the first episode of digimon 'Matt' is a _nickname _as is 'Izzi' and 'TK' thus when talking to officials who don't know their real name and _need _to know their real names, I will be using their original names because that's what they really are. For cases like Davis (who's name is not considered a nickname in the dubbed version) that will be their official name. I hope that makes sense!

Further more, if anyone knows the names of TK and Matt's parents that'd be great. I keep looking but I can't find them! I don't want to make something up if I don't have to especially if people know their names and I use the wrong ones. I don't want to confuse anyone.

Also, This chapter took me through the doozy, I had it all finished on 3/18 but then I decided to add more to the flashbacks and cut it in half. So next chapter is completed, I was making this much to long anyway XD

On another note. This story is in no way a slash, and there is no incestual comments everything is said the way it is to show a strong feeling of compassion and ** _brotherly _**love towards their siblings. Please do not take offense as such.

Furthermore, apologies if I sounded threatening in my last chapter, I was in no way saying "review or die!" More of a, "I get made when you don't review but you take the time to favorite me" type thing only, sorry if I made anyone uncomfortable.

I have a challenger for everyone: try spelling typewriter ONE time at your normal speed without looking at the keyboard. If you get it right, you're one of the select few people in the world who can do it. Typewriter is one of the hardest words in the world to type because it is all on one line – it's the longest word in a single row that can be typed!

This is slightly shorter then the last two chapters, apologies, but it was because I cut it in half!


	4. Chapter 4

"_**I remember when I used to sit on hospital beds and hold people's hands, people used to be shocked because they'd never seen this before. To me it was quite normal." – Princess Diana **_

"The car hit him in a rather good angle for someone to get hit by a car with." The doctor said, trying to make TK feel better as they walked into the Intensive Care Unit. "His knee has several fractures on its cap, and his ACL is torn – so don't expect him to run any marathons in the future. However he'll be able to walk and that's very good news. The intensity of the breaks on his leg is around his right ankle – it appears he tried to jump the car when it came at him, almost made it too. His ankle almost shattered, and it has over forty cracks around it, but we managed to make a form of paste from the shards that were floating out of their original places and we glued the majority of the ankle together without prohibiting movement to the structure. It's going to be a rough rehabilitation but he'll make it though and will be able to walk without a limp in at least a year or two. He's lucky that the bone didn't completely pulverize into powder. I know a woman who did that to her entire tibia and she's still limping two years later.

Anyway, the other contact spot was his upper right arm and shoulder where he crashed into the windshield. There was a lot of glass that had bounced back and imbedded itself in his shoulder and even his face. We got the glass out, and the worst damage that was done to the area was a clean break on his radius and another, but smaller, clean break on his ulna. His shoulder seems to have several large bruises but nothing that won't heal over time.

The biggest surgical issue we had was an aneurysm that formed on his Parietal Lobe, however he's a fighter and we took care of it. Though I need to warn you, we were operating on the part of the brain where language and memory are, and though we don't believe we damaged anything there are risks with the surgery. He was not conscious so we couldn't make sure that the language portion of his brain was not damaged by the removal of the aneurysm, and he may have difficulty remembering things as well as the possibility of amnesia. He hasn't woken up yet, so we can't be sure of anything right now. He's most likely going to be in a large amount of pain when he does though, but that's the be expected due to the trauma of his injuries." TK looked up at the doctor with big eyes. He had Patamon clutched to his chest and was holding Gabumon to his side, both taking in the information and forcing themselves to remain lifeless.

"Sir…he's a singer…if he doesn't…if he has…what if he can't…" It seemed the youngest brother was the one with the speaking problems at the moment; he just couldn't form the words he wanted to.

"Speak?" The doctor asked understandingly. The boy nodded, gulping as the worst case scenario came to mind. "There's a fairly good chance we may be able to operate again and fix what we had accidentally hit the first time. However let's not worry about that yet. He's alive, and we won't know what's wrong until he wakes up. He's in here if you want to stay with him until your parents arrive."

The boy jumped at the chance, running into the room and taking in the sight of his broken and unconscious older brother. He noticed the doctor had left him alone, and he placed the digimon on the ground, closing the door. They moved to Matt's side as TK pulled up a chair next to him and held his older brother's hand.

It was cold to the touch, but the heart monitor assured him that everything was okay. The young teen felt tears in his eyes as he rested his head down on the bed beside Matt. The threats that were involved with the surgery would be disastrous to Matt's career, and the young boy didn't want to think about that. Gabumon looked up at the boy and smiled through his own fear.

"Don't worry TK, no matter what happens, Matt's tough. If he can't sing, he'll play the guitar. If he doesn't remember the guitar he'll pick up a harmonica – or play the triangle. If he wants to do something he'll do it, no matter what people say. Don't worry about a thing." TK looked at the furry coated digimon and forced a smile himself.

"I know, but I should have been there…I could have saved him."

"If you had been there, you would have been hit too TK." Patamon said flying over to him and sitting on his head. "Don't think that you could have done something if you couldn't have. You can't change the past TK."

"Yeah…I know." TK sighed and closed his eyes, snuggling his head into the sheets as he found himself spiraling into a deep and troubled slumber.

Tai and the others ran through the hospital doors two hours later. Once Matt and TK's parents went up to the front desk and they were all directed towards the room, everyone took off running. Several nurses yelled for no running in the halls, but they were ignored.

Entering the room Davis had already started asking (yelling) how Matt was doing in the hall but when they entered and saw TK fast asleep. Kari was beaten to the motion of slapping her hand on his mouth by Yolei who quickly hissed a 'shhhh.' Everyone squeezed into the room on the other side of the bed, but the brothers' parents had yet to arrive. They had stopped to ask a doctor about Matt's condition first. Gabumon and Patamon looked up at them and sat up.

Kari moved to wake the younger boy, but Tai stopped her. He shook his head and pressed a finger to his mouth signaling they should be quiet. His sister nodded, but moved to place her jacket over the boy's shoulders to keep him warm – he still was damp from the rain.

"Why shouldn't we wake him up?" Davis asked rubbing the back of his head in confusion. The group glared at him.

"Use your head Davis. His brother was just in a car accident when they drove twelve hours just to avoid you!" Tai snapped back quietly.

"Besides, think about how stressful it had to have been finding out your brother was seriously injured like that. He's probably exhausted – not to mention that it's four in the morning!" Sora added on.

"Yeah but…I wanna know what happened." Davis said crossing his arms.

"You're just being selfish!" Mimi said angrily, than turning to Jo she went on. "You're a doctor; can't you read his charts and see what's wrong with him?"

"I don't know how to read charts yet. Sorry." He shook his head.

They either sat on the floor or leaned against the wall while waiting, but they all went through agonizing silence for a long time before anyone tried to say anything. When the silence did in fact lift, it wasn't Davis who spoke, but Yolei. She looked at the original digidestined and sighed.

"Can you tell us now what happened to TK?" The six other people groaned. They had been pestered by that question all day, and now wasn't the place to answer it. Even if TK was there, they didn't want to wake him up just to ask his permission and have him sit though an terrible conversation about that time. Izzi mentioned that when he told the others about them being called back to the digital world a second time TK had changed the subject when Kari said they hadn't meant to keep it from them. That had pretty much put a damper on any chance the boy would be interested in explaining the situation. Obviously they had meant to keep it from them, and now they also didn't want to have to explain that they had lied.

"Not right now. It's not a good time." Izzi whispered.

"I agree." This time it was Ken who spoke, and everyone was astounded that someone who didn't know what happened was so willingly accepting the lack of knowledge.

"You what?!" Davis yelped. Cody covered his mouth and hissed for him to be quiet, everyone turned to the bed where the youngest blonde shifted restlessly in his sleep before finally settling down. Patamon however was glaring at Davis. He obviously wasn't too happy with the boy.

"It's not the time or the place to do this. Matt's in a hospital bed and TK's dead tired. We've been hounding everyone all day to find out what's happened, and they keep saying that they won't say anything else about the topic until TK and Matt agree about it. We should not keep pressing the issue if we already know what the answer will be."

"Why the big secret though, I mean, we've known each other for years, why isn't anyone saying anything to us?" Davis asked angrily. Again everyone hissed for him to be quiet. "No I won't be quiet. Tell us what happened to TK's chest!"

"There's something wrong with his chest?" They all looked up at the doctor that the brothers' parents had found. The older kids glared at Davis angrily, why douldn't he just keep his big mouth shut?

"No, nothing recent that is. Several years ago he was injured and it's left him with a bad scar, but other then that nothing that we know of." Nancy Takaishi stated, shooting an annoyed glance at Davis who in turn looked away in growing shame.

"I'd like to see the wound sometime; there may be a way to remove it."

"You could?" Hiroaki Ishida asked surprised.

"There is a possibility." The kindly doctor said smiling at them.

"Then yes, tomorrow could you-"

"Don't make decisions for me without talking to me first." Everyone turned to look at the young blonde who was starting to sit up. His eyes were half closed and his face clearly showed how tired he was, however he still had the strength to grab Patamon and storm out of the room leaving everyone staring in awe in his wake.

In the hospital's cafeteria TK slammed the paper cup down under the Poland Springs water jug's nozzle. Patamon sighed and rubbed his head slightly against the teen's side. It was subtle, but the comfort was there. The digimon knew he couldn't speak because they were public yet the action still told the boy what he wanted to get across.

"Hey, kid." The teen turned around to see a young man around Matt's age and a woman next to him. The girl had on a tight black tank top and chained pants, while her male counterpart had on a similar outfit only his shirt was certainly _not _a tight tank top.

"What?" TK asked, leaning against the wall and trying to stop the mounting headache that he was starting to get.

"You came in with that boy, what's his name – Mattie – right?" The digidestined frowned, these people were actually attempting to call Matt _'Mattie' _? If the older teen had heard he'd have started a fight…

"Matt. Why?" _Damn this headache is getting worse_. He placed the cup down on the top of the water jug and brought his hand up to massage his temples.

"Yeah, we got into this argument in the car and I didn't see the light. Tried to stop, ya know? We wanted to come over and - "

"Shut up." TK snapped looking up at the couple. His eyes were dark with fury and the intensity of the gaze made the man take a step back in surprise. "You want to apologize? Fine. Go ahead. Apologize for what though? You don't have a damn clue. You're just here because you think it'd be polite. You're not sincere about it, and you don't give a damn, so just shut the hell up." Patamon inwardly groaned- trouble was starting.

"What's your problem kid? We're here to say we're sorry!" The girl asked angrily, flicking some of her hair behind her shoulder.

"My problem is that you hit my _brother_ with your damn car and you're not even sorry about it!"

"Sorry?! That's a brand new 2005 Celica and he busted up the hood and the windshield, of course I'm fucking sorry!" He shouted back. Patamon knew what was coming and the only bright side of it all was the fact they were still in a hospital – which also happened to be the downside…

In less then a second TK's knee had come up and imbedded itself in the man's stomach while he dropped his digimon to the ground. While the driver gasped in pain the teen had taken the liberty of shoving him to the ground, he punched him hard in the jaw.

Somewhere someone was screaming but he didn't listen, he didn't care. He kept punching until the man angrily punched him back, throwing him off of him TK hissed in pain as the man hit him in his solar-plex. He felt himself get pulled back to his feet, only to get hit again on his jaw. A hand wrapped around his throat and his head was slammed into the wall. Seeing double, the young boy's own hands went to the one around his neck, cursing when he couldn't move it.

"Attacking your elders isn't nice kid." The man snapped, emphasizing this point by shoving him back into the wall.

"Stop it Rei! You'll kill him!" The girl shouted, trying to pull her boyfriend away from the kid.

"If I let him go he'll just keep attacking, right kid?" He slammed TK back into the wall, the boy growled his protest but it didn't get him anywhere. Seeing no other option (literally as dark spots began to cloud his vision) he brought up his leg and kicked out hard, twisting it so that his shin made contact with the man's stomach. It was a surprise hit and the hand around his neck loosened just enough for him to get out of the hold.

He felt his legs coming out from under him and he fell to the floor coughing, trying to regain his breath. To his right Patamon was fuming. He'd been in the human world long enough to know that he couldn't interfere or else there'd be a panic, but _how dare that human creature lay a hand on TK_.

"Little brat!" The man (Rei) hissed, rubbing his bruising ribs. He grabbed a fistful of the boy's hair and raised a hand to punch him again when a cup filled with hot chocolate hit him hard on the side of his head – spilling hot water all over him. Screaming in pain the man pushed TK away and fell backwards, trying to get the water off of him. Meanwhile a strong arm took hold of TK's and helped him to his feat.

"Did you make a deal with Matt to look after me when he can't?" The blond asked glaring at Tai as the soccer player laughed shiftily and turned around without answering. Kari was standing in the doorway and when TK picked up Patamon and started towards her she ran to his side worrying.

"You're bleeding…" She said wiping her hand across the small trail of blood that was falling from his mouth. He gently moved it out of the way and wiped it off himself before wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they followed Tai back to Matt's room.

"You worry too much." He whispered. He lowered his head to kiss the top of hers when chills went down his spine. Glancing up, Tai was glaring at him from over his shoulder. Kari hadn't noticed, but the boy immediately backed off, deciding to hold her hand instead.

_**Five years earlier**_

_TK's hands twitched in the darkness. His entire body aching as he struggled to sit up. Voices he recognized but couldn't interpret were speaking. A door opened and closed. His body ached and his chest was searing with pain. _

"_Matt…" He whispered, arms shaking as he forced himself to get into a pushup position. Knees falling to the floor, he maneuvered himself to sit up, though his chest hurt and his eyes were blind in the dark. However his chest protested the action, making him fall back to the ground in pain. _

_Voices continued to swirl around his already muddled mind. A hand on his shoulder, a hand on his head, something clasping his ankles, something on his chest, who was touching him? Where was Patamon? Matt? Tai? Kari? Everyone? _

I don'tlike it…stop touching me…stop touching me….

_The hands were thrown off, but still the pain stayed and the feeling of there being something around him did not waver. He felt consciousness slipping away and soon he fell back, into the dark._

"_What is it?" the Miragemon asked as Abyssmon sat over the child. _

"_He's fighting it rather hard for someone so close to dying." The digimon replied moving back towards the door. "Call me if he wakes again, the more he fights the weaker his body will be. He's unintentionally killing himself with his struggling."_

_Matt sat up quickly his breath short and his heart racing. Gabumon looked at him carefully from his position with the other digimon. It had been two nights since TK's original disappearance, and nightmares were common. To protect the children from the monsters that had kidnapped TK in the first place, the digimon created a circle around them all at night. _

"_Matt? Can't sleep?" Gabumon asked gently as the boy's harsh breathing broke the silence of the night. He struggled to get out of his sleeping bag, then tripped over his own feat several times before he managed to get out of the 'protection circle' and into the woods._

_The other digimon didn't dare move, for they could hear the boy heaving in the dark. Coughing soon filled the night and they shared worried glances. The pre-teen was definitely sick. His furry digimon had confirmed it while he was sleeping. He was running a fever and his body had been taxed to its limit. _

"_How long has he been like this?" A sweet voice asked as the gagging noise continued. _

"_Sora…" Biyomon whispered as the redhead walked over to where the bird-digimon was sitting. _

"_He sounds terrible…" _

"_He needs medicine, and he needs to relax!" Gabumon muttered looking back at to where Matt had disappeared to. _

"_Why hasn't he said anything? If he's so sick he should-" _

"_You know Matt, he wont say he's sick or in pain until he's found TK." Agumon said sadly._

"_He's killing himself…" She whispered. "This is suicide, if he doesn't get any medical attention he's going to die!" _

"_I don't know if I can come back if I leave." A weak voice said from the shadows. "And I can't leave until I find TK…" Sora moved over and helped Matt walk to his sleeping bag, her face etched with worry. Once he was inside it she continued. _

"_But what if it takes us longer then you can hold out? You'll die!" Her hand touched his forehead and he winced when she drew it back in astonishment. "Matt you need a doctor, your fever is _very_ high!" The boy looked up at her with half open eyes, his hand went to Sora's neck and he gently pulled her closer to him. He kissed her, and for a moment, nobody moved. The digimon were staring wide eyed, and it seemed like the world had stopped spinning. _

"_If I'm dying…at least I got kissed while I was doing it." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and fell backwards, asleep. _

_She stayed like that for a long time; her face beat red, and her heart pounding. When he shifted in his sleep, she made a quick getaway._

_In the morning Biyomon told her that Matt's fever had gone down in the night, and that he was looking a bit stronger today. He packed up his things in silence, and when the group was getting ready to keep moving he took the lead as usual. She bit her lip and hurried up to him, tapping him on the shoulder to announce her presence. _

"_So…Matt…about last night…" She started quietly. _

"_What about it?" He asked looking at her confused. _

"_Well…I mean…what happened…" She mumbled awkwardly. _

"_What are you talking about?" Now a look of pure bewilderment crossed his features, his head tilting to one side in complete confusion. _

"_Well…when you…"_

"_Oh…that…" She sighed in relief; she wasn't making a complete fool of herself. "You saw that?"_

"_Huh?" Or maybe she had…_

"_Look, I'm fine okay; I probably just ate something bad." _

"_You don't remember the-" She stopped herself from going on. The fever…he was delusional and delirious…he didn't remember. He was looking at her oddly, but she didn't keep going. _

"_Okay…" He walked past her and Biyomon looked up at her from where she was in Sora's arms. _

"_Sora? Are you okay?" Several tears fell from her eyes and Sora buried her head in the digimon's feathers. _

"_My heart…it hurts…" She said crying. _

When Tai walked into the cafeteria to find TK, he was surprised to say the least that there was a full on fight occurring and that very few people were trying to stop it. The nurses and other orderlies had tried to stop the fight early on, but a code blue had caused them to leave the scene. Then the girl who was with the man tried to stop it when he had begun to strangle the teen.

Kari had started screaming for the fight to stop as well, but nobody seemed to hear her. Finally when it seemed that if it didn't stop soon someone was going to get seriously hurt, Tai stepped in.

First he stopped Kari's screaming, and then he moved over to the vending machines. Putting in the two dollars he needed for her his drink he waited for it to vend. Then, after taking a sip he threw it in the air, as it came back down Tai kicked the cup at the man's head. It opened, as he knew it would, and spilled all over him causing just the distraction he needed to pull the boy from the fray.

"Did you make a deal with Matt to look after me when he can't?" Tai just laughed before turning away. The boy would never know just how right he was.

Windstar: well chapter four is done. I had several thoughts for the quote for this story, but I thought the above fit it best. Next chapter's coming soon!


	5. Chapter 5

"_**If you wish to be brothers, let the arms fall from your hands. One cannot love while holding offensive arms." – Pope Paul VI**_

TK took a deep breath and pushed open the door to Matt's room.

"_I came to get you because Matt woke up…he's been asking for you. His short term memory is a little foggy. He knows he was in a car accident, but he thinks _he_ crashed the car. He's worried you're hurt." Tai said smiling._

"_Other then that…he's fine?" TK asked as Kari squeezed his hand. _

"_Better then fine, he's in a little bit of pain, but it seems that he can remember everything except the crash, and he's speaking normally." _

"_He demanded Davis leave the room, he looked like he was going to get out of the bed and kill him." Kari said smiling. TK found himself happy too, they had worried for nothing._

The doctor from before was sitting on Matt's bed, a stethoscope on the teen's chest who was clearly annoyed and upset. When the younger boy stepped into the room, however, immediately he brightened. That is, of course, until he saw the black eye that was forming and the remains of the blood trail that TK had tried to erase.

"They said you weren't in the accident!" Matt yelled startling the doctor who hadn't notice TK come in. The digidestined also seemed surprised that he had come back a little worse for wear. Tai plopped a hand down on the younger boy's shoulder and laughed.

"I found him making friends with the people who hit you." Tai said with a wink. Matt looked completely astounded at the insinuation and opened his mouth to say something when Kamiya cut him off. "Can you blame him? He's been hanging out with you to much." He pushed TK towards the bed and the boy stumbled towards his brother, avoiding his eyes. For some reason now that he thought back to what he had done, he felt insanely immature.

"Hey…" Matt said looking at the boy intently. "Did they hurt you?" TK lifted his head and smiled.

"Less then I hurt them." Matt smirked at that.

"As much as I enjoy our hospital getting paid – there is under no circumstance an acceptable reason to fight anyone." The Doctor said before bowing out of the room.

_**Five years earlier**_

_Abyssmon looked at the boy kneeling before him. His eyes were open, but the pupils were blind. No emotion, just blank. The Miragemon gone down to bring Patamon and Gennai back to the room to see the final product. The digimon in charge ran a hand through the boy's tangled blonde hair, garnering no reaction. _

"_Ta-ker-u…" He whispered slowly trying to get the boy's attention. The kid didn't respond. He just stared straight ahead with a terrible blank look. "TK right? They call you TK?" When there still was no reply, the digimon ruffled the light mop and turned around just as his two captives were dragged through the door. "Let them go, they won't be a problem"_

_The orange digimon threw himself into TK's chest, crying miserably as he snuggled against the boy. Gennai stayed back, his eyes watching the child closely. When no reaction occurred, he turned on Abyssmon. He clenched his fists in anger as he glared deeply at the digimon._

"_What have you done?" He asked, body tensing. _

"_Nothing you should be worrying about at the moment. Maybe in an hour from now, but right now…you should me more concerned with what's going to happen to you." The creature moved towards the boy, and Patamon attempted to defend the blonde – only to have himself thrown into a wall. The larger of the two digimon pulled the child up by his arm. "One of you Miragemon stay here and make sure those two see the show. If they even think about escape I want them dead." The TV screens from before blinked on allowing them to see the young group of kids as they marched their way around File Island looking for anything that could point them in the right direction. _

_Abyssmon tugged the child and the boy stumbled to his feet being half dragged half carried out of the room – door slamming closed behind them. As they walked down the hallway, the other Miragemon had decided to travel with them. The blonde tripped and the smaller of the two digimon growled and shoved him to his feat. Instantly tears began to fall from the boy's eyes, and whilst they still contained a gaze of nothing – pure sorrow seemed to emit from his tiny body._

_Not nearly far enough away, Matt glanced up at Infiniti Mountain, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Behind him Jo looked up as well._

"_You see something?" He asked squinting to try to see better._

"_No…just a feeling." He replied back. He was still gazing at the mountain when something appeared in his vision. A black shape – moving fast…_very _fast. He licked his lips and as the thing approached the wind picked up. Sand, dirt, twigs, branches, everything was blowing their way. _

"_Umm guys?! Jo yelled tripping backwards in the intense winds. "_What is that?!" _He screamed as Gomamon jumped up and whacked a large branch away form hitting him dead in the face. _

"_It's a Flymon!" Tai screamed out, his goggles on and enabling him to get a better look at the creature flying their way. "There's something on its back!" He dove to the side as a large twig nearly clipped into his ear. _

_The wind show stopped abruptly as the large bee-like digimon landed and the thing on its back was revealed. _

"_TK!" Matt screamed jovially running towards the large creature. He didn't wonder how the kid got a Flymon, or how he managed to find them – it was irrelevant. As he ran closer, he saw another figure behind the boy (who was kneeling on the Flymon's head looking rather dazed). He stopped running, feeling the threat growing. He glared at the large creature, panic filling his chest. "Who are you?" _

"_My name is Abyssmon…" The creature said smiling. "I believe…this is yours?" He motioned at the boy who still had a dazed and confused look on his face. _

"_Yes…" Matt said, glancing at the boy again worrying. Something wasn't right. _

"_Do you want him back?" The digimon pulled TK to his feat, the boy standing unsteadily. _

"_Yes…" The creature smirked. _

"_Well then…what do I get in exchange?"_

Everyone had opted to give the brothers some time to talk alone, taking this opportunity to head towards a motel to get some much needed rest. Nancy and Hiroaki were waiting outside; they were concerned to say the least.

Matt had always been the violent one. Things got rough and he did too. He would go to the ends of the earth and fight an army alone if that meant that his brother or those he was loyal to would be safe. When they came back from that spring vacation so many years ago, he was suspended from school three times for getting into fights before he finally calmed down long enough to put the fights off _at least _until after school.

But TK was always the quiet one that never got in trouble. He'd get through his classes without a fuss, and made friends with everyone simply because of kind he was to those around him. The only one who ever truly seemed annoyed at him on a regular basis was Davis – and even then they were still friends in some form or another. Fighting just wasn't in his nature, neither was talking back.

The younger boy had his head buried in his hands; his body was completely taxed out. He was falling asleep fast. The older teen glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and sighed. He reached out with his good arm, beckoning the younger boy.

"Let me see that shiner of yours." TK obliged, moving closer to the bed and sinking to his knees next to it so Matt could examine his face. "You know…chicks dig battle scars." He said after his inspection. The smaller teen raised a hand to his eye with a frown; he hadn't thought it was really that bad.

"It's gonna scar? I didn't even bleed though." Matt laughed.

"Yeah, well then I guess you're out of luck huh?" The youngest rolled his eyes before moving to go back to his chair. "Stop." He did. "Wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" TK looked back.

"It doesn't feel right." He replied glancing back at the door.

"What doesn't feel right?"

"I can't explain it. Something doesn't feel right. I don't like it."

"Care to elaborate?"

"I just told you that I can't. I just have this feeling…" TK raised a hand unconsciously to his chest. "He could be anyone." The words were whispered, and once again the boy refused to meet his brother's eyes.

"You think he's in this world?" Matt asked pushing himself up some, and ignoring his bruised shoulder as it protested. The silence spoke all, and Matt found himself in doubt as well. And when in doubt, lie like hell. "That's crazy, there's no way he could be here. Gennai or someone would have definitely known about it. Besides, if he was here, then how would you explain the three year wait that happened? If he wanted to do something, he would have done it already."

"Gennai wouldn't know…we couldn't find him before. He was non-existent during Ken's reign, and Oikawa couldn't find him either." TK reasoned quietly. They were silent for a while, but Matt finally spoke.

"You're sure about this little brother?" He asked sadly. If the kid was sure, then something was definitely wrong.

"Yes…" Matt sighed, this was bad…very very bad.

"Got any guesses on who?"

_The group stared up at the Flymon that was starting to lift higher into the air. Matt looked ready to jump the whole two stories and punch the mother fucking ass who dared try to make a deal over his brother's life. However right now they were all exhausted from behind so hard pressed, and even though his fever was dropping, he was still sick. _

_He took a deep breath to calm himself. He couldn't let this creep get away, taking TK and leaving them no trace to follow. He'd make the deal his way. _

"_Well…do you have an offer?" Abyssmon asked leering over the side of Flymon, his hand resting surreptitiously on the young child's neck. _

"_Let TK go, and I'll go in his stead." Instantly there were calls of disapproval, Gabumon had actually begun to growl. Sora was screaming at him for being a moron, and Tai was calling him an idiot. However it didn't seem to matter to the boy, he just wanted TK in safe hands, even if those hands weren't his. _

_Abyssmon was also taken slightly aback by the comment. He hadn't expected this to go so well. Having Friendship willingly give himself up to be corrupted was so much easier then having to break his will first. And while that was happening, little boy Hope was in the clear for destroying the digidestined from the inside out. _

_Everything was going better then planned, and the villain liked it. However, it would be much to boring to break a broken spirit. As a plan formulated in the creature's twisted mind, he smiled and replied the blonde._

"_You have a deal." Gabumon growled angrily, glaring at Matt. _

"_No. You're not going." He snapped viciously. The blonde glared at him._

"_Since when do you choose for me mommy?" The digimon looked quiet taken aback by the comment, until he noticed the wink in the boy's eye. Out of hearing of everyone, the boy knelt down and hugged the digimon, whispering in his ear. "When I get TK, kill them. I'll get him away then come back when he's safe. I'm not leaving." He gave the digimon a squeeze on the shoulder before stepping back and looking up at Abyssmon. _

_Hand in his pocket, clutching his digivices and getting ready for action, the boy stepped forward. His eyes were blazing with strength and vengeance. He would not let either of the two walk out of here alive today, heart or not. _

"_Hand over TK. I want to say goodbye." The boy yelled up, and was given a reply almost instantly. _

"_As you wish." The next few moments fell in slow motion._

_The young child was thrown from the top of the Flymon, plummeting to the ground. Matt screamed in complete panic. The digidestined behind him grabbed their digivices while running towards the falling boy. The eldest blonde jumped high, his hands reaching out as one managed to find the boy's head and pull it to his chest just as gravity forced the child the final four feet to the ground. _

_They rolled across the dirt and debris for a matter of seconds, and when they stopped, the only sound was the sound of someone snapping their fingers, and saying "Begin."_

_Matt opened his eyes and looked at his younger brother who was sitting on top of him, his hand clenching around Matt's throat. Blank eyes stared back at him, his expression simply a void. _

"_T…K?" He whispered, reaching a hand up to touch the boy's face. It was slapped away and ground into the dirt. Matt frowned, trying to regulate his strained breathing. He brought his other hand to the one around his throat, prying the boy off of him. "What do you think you're doing…?" _

_Almost instantly a slap hit him hard across the face, he glared at his brother, but refused to hit back. To the side of them no one was moving, they were all simply watching the transaction. The younger boy continued to hit his brother non stop, but Matt would never strike back. For he was the only one who seemed to see something the others did not. _

_TK was crying. Tears were just pouring down his face, and he as Matt refused to hit him in retaliation, he refused to stop the crying. While his face was completely blank of all emotion and his body was stiff and rigid, he was crying as though the world had ended. And for that, Matt stayed his hand. He would never have struck TK in the first place, but he would have moved the boy off of him. The kid needed to get this out of his system and he simply stared the boy in the eyes as he let the kid hit him._

_Finally Tai walked towards them, dragging the fighting child off of his brother. Kamiya tried to pull him farther away when something inside of the kid snapped. He whirled around in Tai's hold and scratched him hard across the face with nails that should have been cut weeks ago. The older boy yelped and fell away from him but the child wouldn't let up. _

_Screaming and chaos ensued soon after as Matt made Gabumon digivolved all the way to Metalgarurumon who attacked the Flymon and Abyssmon without any signs of Mercy. Almost immediately afterward Tai retaliated by kicking the nine year old menace away from him hand digivolving Augumon to Wargreymon. As everyone else followed suit Matt angrily strode to Tai and yelled at him for hitting TK, while said person attacked them both at the same time._

_Using his nails the boy took the liberty to scratch and claw and both, punching and doing anything in his power to try to hurt them as much as possible. Kari started screaming in a panic, not sure what to do. The digimon were fighting the digimon, and now the humans were fighting the humans?!_

_Izzi and Jo dragged the kicking and screaming boy off of the two eldest kids. He writhed in their hold, kicking at their legs and elbowing Jo in the nose – hard. He caught Izzi in the throat with the back of his hand, and he was down for the count, gasping and coughing._

_Sora tried next only to face a similar demise. The truth is, no one wanted to hurt the kid though he had now inhibitions of hurting them. He was fighting like a wild cat, his claws in the shape of nails and his teeth in the forms of painful punches and kicks that were not perfect nor were they well done. He simply was moving to frantically and striking out at anything that came near him to stop and think. _

_Even now his blank face had been exchanged with one that was hissing and growling at anyone who approached him. Mimi had literally just sat down crying, trying to avoid getting hurt, but Kari was not as fortunate. _

_Tai struggled to his feat and bolted when he saw the blonde shrimp attempting to strike out at his new best friend. Matt was close behind him, and as much as it pained him to say it – this was going way too far. _

_He was to slow to stop TK from kicking Tai in the groin and kicking out his legs or pushing Kari to the ground, but he managed go wrap his arms around the boy, hugging him close to his chest. The boy struggled and kicked and screamed and clawed, but Matt wouldn't let him go. He sank to his knees so the child couldn't kick him, and held the boy's arms and body in a tight vice grip, refusing to let him go no matter what. _

_With no other method of escape, the younger kid simply bit down on Matt's neck. Matt screamed in pain, his grip loosening some, but soon, he regrasped the boy and held on tighter. He could still hear the screaming and the fighting and the battle going no around him, but right now the sound that had his complete attention was the complete mournful sound of harsh sobbing in his shoulder. _

_Tiny words reached his ears and he let out a breath he had been holding. The boy's hands had exchanged their angry striking at his back for clutching Matt's overworn black T-shirt for dear life. The tiny nine year old had regressed from the angry and murderous beast into the tiny and soulful child that he'd sworn to protect. The kid had sunk from his knees to his butt, sitting on his brother's lap as he just bawled into the older boy's shoulder. _

"_I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean…I'm sorry…It hurts…I didn't want to…I'm so sorry…" He kept repeating the chant over and over again, and Matt's arms loosened slightly around him as the boy looked up. _

_His face was flooded from tears, snot, and saliva, but his eyes were sparkling in the light. He was far from happy, but there was life in those orbs, and that was all the convincing Matt needed. He rubbed TK's back gently whispering quietly that everything was going to be okay, that he was fine, they all were fine. _

_It was then that his hand hit a lump that wasn't supposed to be there. Matt looked down at TK's back, moving the tattered shirt aside to see a piece of black metal sticking out from around his shoulder blade. _

_He continued to murmur sweet nothings to calm the distraught child down, but his hands and eyes delved further to examine the object. A loud and angry filled scream filled the air, and he turned looking back just intime to see the Flymon transform into a grotesque creature before disappearing into nothing. _

_Abyssmon was on his back and MetalGarurumon had his jaws and claws ready for the kill. Matt glanced back down at the metal that he had touched briefly with his finger. TK jolted when he touched it once more; and he opted for leaving it alone at the moment. Picking his brother up, he called for a stop in the onslaught. _

_All eyes fell on him, and he glared menacingly at the creature. _

"_What the hell is this?" He asked motioning to the lump. Abyssmon laughed slightly. _

"_Why should I bother telling you anything? That boy belongs completely to me, and there's nothing you can do about it. Even if I die…he'll always be mine." Anger coursed through Matt's veins as the digimon gloated. _

"_Get. It. Out. Of. Him." He bit out each word. _

"_You like to see him smile don't you? Hate it when he cries?" the digimon asked with a smirk. "I'll make sure he's smiling when he kills you then – Mattie." The nickname pissed him off more then ever and he was about to command MetalGarurumon to kill the son of a bitch, when it said something else. "Begin." _

_Almost instantaneously the calm yet still petrified child struck out, knocking him to the ground. He yelped in pain as his head hit it hard. TK was on top of him, strangling him once more, yet on his face was a ghost of a smile. Those goddamn blank eyes were back and Matt didn't know whether to scream or to cry._

_The digimon were useless at this particular moment, if they tried to help then they'd only end up killing one of them. MetalGarurumon struck Abyssmon hard demanding that he call TK off, but the villain refused telling him that should he be killed – TK would never be free again. _

_Tai struggled to his feat pushing himself up slowly. Matt's hands were tugging at the one around his throat. He was running out of air, and despite himself he was panicking. Tai groaned as he tried to approach the scene, but his feet fell out from under him once more. He was physically too weak to help out._

"_Matt! You need to knock TK out! It's the only way right now!" he called trying to crawl towards them. _

"_I-can't Tai…" Matt wheezed, trying to move the hands from this throat. TK squeezed harder and the older boy gagged. _

"_You need to hit him! Knock him off of you! Something! If you don't you're going to die! What's that going to do?! When he wakes up he's going to have to live with the fact he killed his brother! You're letting him kill you because you won't defend yourself you moron!" Sora screamed from where she was trying to get up by a tree. _

"_Matt please! What's going to happen when you're gone?!" Mimi cried in horror. Similar screams filled the boy's ears but the last thing he said of before he blacked out was simply…_

"_I…cant…" And darkness filled his eyes – his last sensation was soft tears hitting his cheeks as TK forced himself to wake up from the spell that binded him. _

"_Matt!" He screamed, letting his neck go, but it was to late. Yamato Ishida stopped breathing May 16 2000._

Wi4ndstar: I understand that some people disagree with the pairings that have been chosen. My excuse to this matter is that I'm trying to stay as close to the original story line as possible. As they're dating in the show – they're dating/have feelings for each other in this. Since there was never an official statement on whether TK or Kari (or Kari/Davis) were ever involved I took that as artistic license

I'd like to apologize for the wait. School started up again and so the chapters are going to be going slowly, but I hope to get the next chapter up before Monday.


	6. Chapter 6

"**_The mind can be subject to a temporary loss of memory…known as a blackout. During a blackout, an individual is not in control – or aware of their actions. A blackout can happen to anyone." –George A. Grieve _**

It was nearly three in the afternoon; TK was curled up in a chair in the corner. Doctors had come and go to check on Matt, but he had requested they do their examinations quietly, as to not disturb his brother's slumber.

The Doctor from before, his name being Sei Kashino, walked in and moved towards the younger boy. Matt stopped him in his tracks growling a 'what are you doing.' The doctor turned and shook his head, talk about a pit-bull.

"Your parents wanted me to take a look at the boy's chest, see if there's anyway to remove the scarring." Matt frowned, finding it all to easy to glare at the doctor.

"That doesn't sound like something he'd agreed to." He replied, scooting himself up some, ready to force the doctor away from his brother should he have to.

"Unfortunately, as he's not yet of legal age that choice is not his to make." Kashino replied making a movie to wake the exhausted boy. A pillow hit him square in the back, and the man turned with a frown fixated on his face. Matt was making a move to grab another pillow when he began talking again.

"It doesn't matter; he doesn't want to do it." The teen grabbed his second pillow and had it in throwing position when the doctor took it from him and placed it to the side.

"I have to follow your parent's wishes. They want me to examine his chest, and I will do it, do you understand?" The doctor's voice was laced with sugar and it seemed like he was actually concerned for the boy. However that didn't mean that he was getting off the hook. Matt had decided that TK was going to sleep until he woke up naturally – and that was that. No one argued with him or tried to convince him otherwise, he made up his mind and that was what was happening.

"Doesn't matter, you're not waking him up." The doctor sighed and turned back to the youngest blonde and reached out to shake his shoulder, when a blanket hit him in the back. He ignored it and was about to touch the teen's shoulder when Matt frisbeed a hard-cover novel at him. He yelped in surprise turning angrily towards the older brother.

"If you keep that up, I will have to restrain you." Matt gave him a shit-eating grin, and Kashino could have sworn there was a twinkle of menace in his eye.

"You could try." He had a glass of water in his hand now, and was almost daring the doctor to try to touch TK again. The older man and Matt locked eyes for a moment, anger in one, annoyance in the other. "When my parents – let alone my friends - get in here and see it though, I won't be restrained for much longer. And if TK wakes up and I'm restrained, he might just be the one to give your hospital _more _money."

Kashino glared at him, but still his will would not be broken. He moved towards the older boy, who still had the cup in hand.

"Regardless, you need to let me do my job." The teen in front of him glared right back, his stubborn streak shining through greatly.

"If you wake him up, you'll have to restrain me first, because I won't let you. If you restrain me and he sees it, he'll freak out. If he freaks out, you won't be able to do your job. So why don't you turn around, and save yourself the trouble?"

The man turned on his heel and walked out of the room, and Matt sighed in relief. He spared a glance at the younger boy who had curled in closer to himself and was snuggling into the nice padded arm of the char he was sitting in. Ishida sighed, glancing down to where his novel had landed. Sora had brought it in so he'd fight the boredom, but now it was lying useless on the ground.

He leaned over the side of the bed, trying to reach it. His fingers just touched the spine, and he dug his nails into the groove between the spine and the front cover. The book inched its way closer to the boy as he moved his hand back some. Finally it was close enough to grab by the cover and he lifted it back to his bed with a smile.

He was about to attempt opening the book one handed when the doctor came back in with two padded wrist restraints. He glared viciously at the man and when he attempted to take hold of one of the boy's wrists Matt tossed his newly grabbed prize at him, and threw himself off the bed on the other side.

What he had momentarily forgotten in his haste to get away from the man; was that his leg ankle was broken. What should have been an easy landing on his own two feet ended up in a sprawled mess on the floor. He let out an involuntary yelp of pain and bit his lower lip, tears coming to his eyes.

Pain just flooded up his leg and reverberated around his entire body. It was surprising that after everything that the digidestined had been through, that most of their worst injuries occurred outside of the digital world. Even with all the falling down cliffs, and into tunnels and being thrown around like a slinky, none of them had ever actually broken anything. Which was absurd to say the least. Even TK's rampage hadn't actually permanently harmed anyone.

The scream and crash, however, was more then enough to wake up the dozing teen in the corner. When he noticed the doctor towering over something, and his brother gone from his bed, he was on his feat in an instant.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He asked once he made a quick dash over the bed to the other side to help Matt up to his feet. He had yet to actually see the restraints, but he was still getting angrier by the minute. Now as to the question, neither participant in the act were quite sure who it was referred to, and so both stayed quiet. However TK wouldn't let it drop and once he had helped his brother back into the bed, he looked Matt dead in the eyes and repeated himself. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Matt wanted to know how this suddenly became his fault but motioned with his good hand towards the doctor who still had the padded white restraints with him. TK glanced at them and then back to his brother who was still hissing in pain, and then back at the doctor.

"Get out."

"I need to examine your chest wound." Kashino replied sighing. Why were these boys so goddamn annoying?

"And to do that you're restraining my brother? What was he going to do? He's got a broken arm for god's sake. You restraining him isn't going to help him heal, _doctor_." He spat out. There was that feeling again, that something wasn't right.

"He wouldn't allow me to wake you." He defended putting the restraints down.

"I don't need to be examined, and I don't want an operation." TK replied sitting down on the edge of Matt's bed with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Be that as it may, as I told your brother, your parents what you to be examined. Until you're twenty your life is not your own. Your parents decide whether or not you'll have the surgery." TK glared at the man.

"No." He said. The doctor sighed rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Listen, if the scarring is as bad as your parent's say it is-"

"You know you keep saying that word like it means something." Matt looked at TK, he had known for some time now that TK had issues with their mother and father, however this was the first time he actually said anything about it to anyone beside him (that he knew of). The doctor paused, doing a double take. "Dad is no more my parent as Mom is Matt's. He may he my father, but he was never my parent." TK stood up to leave. He was making his way towards the door when he turned his head towards Matt. "I'll see you later." With that he opened the door to leave – only to see his mother and father staring at him miserably.

They stood there in silence for a while, before TK pushed passed them and made his way towards the elevator at the end of the hall.

_Five years earlier_

_No one would touch TK. He was sitting off to the side his head buried in his knees and his arms wrapped around them. The digimon were still holding Abyssmon captive – much to the digimon's displeasure. Jo had overcome his bloody nose and broken glasses, and was now concentrating all his efforts on getting Matt breathing before his heart stopped. _

_The kids had managed to move closer to him, but in all honesty – kept sparing TK looks. They had pretty much assumed he was going to attack them again, and the boy was under the assumption he was as well. Tai was the one who dragged him away from his brother's body long enough for Jo to get there and start his treatments. _

_When he had, to his surprise, TK didn't fight back. He struggled to stay by Matt, but didn't try to hurt him. He eventually just broke down in his arms. After a while Tai leaned him against a nearby tree and moved back to see how Matt was doing._

"_Damn it!" Jo cursed as he checked again for a pulse and finding none. His crossed his hands, trying to remember his First Aid Class's specific instructions. He pressed down on Matt's chest, counting with each compression. He leaned over and breathed, then checked the pulse. TK's eyes had looked up from where they were burrowed and locked onto Matt's pale face. He looked dead. It made him cry even harder. _

_However it seemed as though luck was still with them. The older boy's snapped open as he inhaled sharply, before rolling onto his side and gasping for air. Jo leaned back on his heels and took a deep breath. He'd just saved his first life. Matt's breathing was erratic, but he was breathing, and he was alive – that's all that mattered. _

_He sat up, hands rubbing at his neck. His eyes blinked quickly for a moment before looking up and trying to find his brother. Sora moved aside, revealing the weeping boy. He pushed himself to his feat and moved towards the boy. His steps were unsteady but they gained in confidence as he continued forward. _

"_Go away…" the younger child whispered. "I'll hurt you I-"_

_Matt forced him to look up, his hand on his brother's chin. The teary eyed kid wept on, still not wanting to meet his brother's eyes._

"_I'm fine." He whispered. "I had a near death experience, but I'm fine." The humor in the comment was lost on the boy as he buried his head in his knees again, crying harder and whispering how sorry he was. He honestly didn't know what was happening. He didn't understand why he kept striking out, or why he had this sudden burst of strength. He didn't know why he tried to kill his brother, or why his body seemed to act on it's own. _

_The only thing that was truly occupying his muddled mind though, was the sight of his brother lying there like death. His lips already turning blue as Jo continued his cardiopulmonary resuscitation actions. The simple thought of _I almost killed my brother_ was terrifying him. _

"_Get it out…" He whispered brokenly, one of his hands reaching back and brushing itself over the metal in his back. "Get it out…I don't wanna hurt you, please." He gasped, fingers tightening around it. He attempted to pull on it, but that only caused him to wince and groan in pain. His hands fell from it, but he didn't look up. "Just get it out…someone…" He cried. _

_Kari moved to his side and held one of his hands, looking up to her brother for help. After their first adventure in the digital world she and TK had become very good friends. They were together often, which gave Tai and Matt the excuse to pummel each other in violent video games all the time. She didn't want her new friend to be in pain. _

"_Tai…help him…he's hurting…" The little empath requested, squeezing TK's hand. Tai gave Matt a look. The future rock star was in no condition to be doing removing of any kind to anyone. Kamiya took a deep breath, moving behind TK and looking at the metal thing. His eyes squinted to get a better look at it, before they widened in shock. He looked up at Abyssmon who was watching the scene with mild interest, and then he looked back at the thing. _

"_What the hell did you do?" He hissed, glaring at the digimon who simply laughed. _

"_What? You recognize something?" Tai slammed his hand into a nearby tree._

"_What the hell did you do?!" The boy beside him chocked on his sobs as the scream reverberated through his head. _

_MetalGarurumon bit down on the villain's throat before slamming him into the dirt again. He wanted to rip the creature's throat out, but delayed until whatever was wrong with the youngest blonde was fixed. _

"_I copied a…_colleague's_ idea, and embellished on it. Why? Have a problem with it?" Tai looked back down at the black metal object that he recognized all to well. No wonder the kid was freaking out so much, there was a black gear embedded in his back. Granted it was much smaller then the ones used on the digimon, it was roughly the size of a tennis ball. His hand gripped on to the edge of it and he began to tug on it. Instantly blood seeped out from around it and the boy yelled in pain._

_He made a move to try to get away from Tai, but Matt gently caught him. With his brother's arms wrapped around him gently, and Kari still holding onto his hand, TK gripped the back of Matt's shirt with his free hand. The preteen looked up at Tai, who was looking sick to his stomach at the blood that was freely flowing from the kid's back. He nodded slowly to his friend, and the brunette took a deep breath and nodded back._

_His hands closed around the gear for the second time and slowly tried to pry it out of him. More blood gushed from the wound and TK screamed, holding Matt's shirt for dear life. The child writhed in his arms, his body shuddering as he tried to escape the immense pain that filled his body with each passing millimeter of the gear. The arms around him tightened as Ishida clenched his eyes shut, wishing that the younger boy would simply pass out so he wouldn't have to feel this. Kamiya let go of the gear again, a hand covering his mouth as bile threatened to meet the outside world. _

_Matt met his eyes again, before letting go of his brother who was shaking in shock. TK looked at him in complete pain and fear. The older of the two boys reached forward and placed his hand over the younger's eyes. Whilst the boy's orbs were closed, he took a deep breath. The kid couldn't be conscious for this, it was to painful. Taking his hand, he did what he refused to do before. He struck his brother _hard_ on the side of his head. The child collapsed onto him, his arms falling limply to his side. _

"_Do it." Matt whispered hoarsely, getting a better grip on the boy. _

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you." The group turned to Abyssmon who seemed to be quite happy for something about to die. _

"_And why the hell would that be?" Matt asked his eyes flashing fiercely._

"_That gear is right next to his spine is it not? How do you know that while you're pulling it out, you're not paralyzing him? Or better yet, killing him?" _

_The group was stunned at that, no one had actually thought about what the metal object was doing inside of the boy. However it made sense that it would be so near his spine, the boy's nerves were going crazy (literally). However Matt wasn't just going to leave it there for the rest of TK's life. _

"_Metalgarurumon, if that son of a bitch wont take this thing out of him without hurting him, rip his throat out." He ordered, moving transformed eyes towards the digimon. Abyssmon seemed to shrink back in disbelief, those eyes were murderous. "Take it out of him, and I won't kill you." _

"_Fine." The creature snapped his fingers, and the gear glowed red. It pulled out of the wound as though it was the blood that was already falling. The bleeding in question didn't get any worse as the gear reassembled itself and fell to the ground – shattering into little pieces. "Now…as to the terms of my release…" The digimon started, glaring at Metalgarurumon who still had him pinned. _

_Matt looked up at the scene, still holding his brother close to his chest. A ghost of a smile appeared on his face, and he nodded._

"_Right, about that. Kill him." Instantly attacks were made, and comments about his honor were thrown at him, however Matt ignored it all, simply saying "I said _I _wouldn't kill him. The digimon aren't me." Abyssmon shattered into millions of different pieces. All of the good digimon reverted back to their rookie forms, running to check on their digidestined. _

_Gabumon reached up to Matt who was still holding TK close to his chest. Just as TK couldn't erase the sight of Matt dying, Matt couldn't erase the sight of TK writhing in pain in his arms. Gabumon ran a paw through TK's matted hair before looking at his own ward and asking if he was okay. _

"_Yeah, I'm fine…" He replied quietly._

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yeah…It hurts right now, my neck's real stiff and I have a headache. But it could have been worse." He whispered as the little boy's mistreatments on everyone seemed to take its toll. Mimi was the only one who came out unscathed. Kari had skimmed her hands and knees when she'd been pushed. Tai had cuts on his cheek, arms, and legs, and he was probably bruised in places covered by his clothes. Jo's face was covered in blood from the bloody nose he had gotten, and there were cuts around his cheek-bones from where his glasses had shattered. Izzi was getting a bruise on his neck from where he was close-lined. Sora's arms were scraped up from where she had fallen. The humorous thing was that Matt was less hurt then most anyone else yet he was the one with the near death experience. He had simply been chocked and punched. His cheek had a few cuts on it, and he was definitely going to have a black eye and some bruising. However he seemed to be better off then some.  
_

_All in all though, when they go home, there was no doubt in any of their minds that they were going to be sent to the hospital. They looked like they had gotten off light in a bear attack – which coincidentally, was to be their future story._

_When everyone had calmed down long enough to clear their heads it was the next morning. They had slept right in their battle field. Matt changed TK's clothes while he was unconscious. He then unzipped both his and his brother's sleeping bags, putting one on bottom and the other on top – creating one _large_ sleeping bag. He wanted to be there if the kid woke up, he didn't want him to disappear again. _

_The next morning TK was awake and completely silent. He refused to talk to anyone, and never left Matt's side for a moment. The boy was in shock of what had happened in the past few days, and nothing seemed to make him feel better. _

"_What are we supposed to do now?" Mimi asked, sparing the youngest boy of the group a look. "Gennai wanted us to come here, but for all we know he was in on this too…"_

"_Yeah…we haven't seen him since he first got here. Patamon showed up once or twice, but then he was completely MIA as well. Something was completely weird about this whole thing." Izzie continued. "Also, that Flymon appeared to change shape. It certainly wasn't any a _normal _Flymon." _

"_We need to get TK to a hospital as soon as possible." Matt whispered quietly adding to the conversation. "All of us need to go to a hospital." TK buried his head into his brother's side, he felt completely useless and at fault. Of course, this _was _his entire fault, wasn't it?_

"_That's true, but I don't know, it makes me wonder." Tai started, looking thoughtful. "You said you saw TK go into the woods with Patamon, but then when you followed him he was being attacked. Then you said you fought two completely different digimon – two you'd never seen before. Gabumon mentioned that it seemed that one of them had Palmon's vines. Patamon shows up, but doesn't stay with us to try to find TK. Gennai never comes back again, and then this Flymon appears, and then changes into something else we'd never seen before." He paused. "What if they were all the same thing?" _

"_What do you mean?" Sora asked, frowning._

"_I mean, what if this digimon that we'd never seen before can change its shape? Like a shapeshifter or something? But it has a limit, like it can't stay in one shape for to long…or when it's being attacked after a while it changes back. If that's the case, then all those weird things that were happening were this digimon."_

"_If that's the case…" Matt started, looking down at his brother. "Then there's still one more out there." _

_The Miragemon back on Infiniti stared at the screens in shock. The two captives on the other hand were quite pleased with themselves. Abyssmon was gone, the other Miragemon was gone. Now what was he supposed to do? He looked at his captives. They'd get out eventually, and should the digidestined investigate the mountain, he'd be surely killed. _

_He looked at the door, then back at the screens. He needed to leave. If he stayed he would definitely die. He'd lay low…whenever there was talk of digidestined, he'd hightail it in the other direction until he had a plan. Something that would work better then the other plan..._

_He moved towards the door, glancing back at Gennai and Patamon. He needed to leave, and fast. He'd be hunted down and killed. That blonde boy – Friendship – he would chase him to the ends of the digiworld if he had to. That was something that they hadn't counted on fully. They knew that boy would do anything to protect his brother, but they hadn't counted on that truly meaning _anything.

_He threw open the door and ran out of it, needing to escape as soon as possible. He bolted from the hideout. Made his way far away, and never looked back. However he knew that one day he would have his revenge on the digidestined. He would find them, and he would destroy them, even if it was the last thing he did._

Windstar: You know what bugs me? The words "it's" and "its." Seriously, they're completely different from any other word in the fucked up language that is English. Every other word has apostrophe 's' as possessive. Not "it's" that means it's "it is". And "its" is possessive. "It's" is also plural. I mean, honestly! What a fucked up word.

Sorry for the mistakes in the last chapter, I wrote it at one in the morning and I didn't proof read it. This chapter is up and running and I hoped you all enjoyed it. Have a nice week, update scheduled for Saturday at the latest.

Furthermore, I had a quote that I liked in the beginning of this, but then I changed it once I got towards the end. However I felt that it fit in so perfectly, and I liked it so much, I added it in as one of Matt's lines. If you can find it it's by Jaret Wright.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I've also been adding movie quotes and TV show quotes in this. Last chapter had at least two or three in it. If you see them feel free to point them out. The quote I used for this particular chapter however was a hard one. It is from a trailer, and as I couldn't find the announcer guy's name, I put the production manager's name – apologies to announcer guy.


	7. Chapter 7

"_**Anger is just a cowardly extension of sadness. It's a lot easier to be angry at someone than it is to tell them you're hurt." – Tom Gates**_

_**Five years earlier**_

_Matt held TK close to him as Gennai appeared in the distance. He was limping somewhat, and flying above him was a very weary and distraught looking Patamon. The group had seen them on their way back to the digital portal, and had agreed to wait for the two to catch up with them. The little orange digimon flapped its weary wings until finally he couldn't do it any longer. He collapsed to the ground, struggling to stand up. _

_TK gently pushed himself out of Matt's protective hold and he stumbled towards his hurting friend. Tiny hands met a tiny body and the orange creature was pulled onto his lap. Gentle eyes observed the small digimon, as it burst into tears and mumbled how sorry it was. _

_Patamon snuggled into TK's chest crying and weeping his little heart out. The others had gotten closer now, and were helping Gennai to sit down – as he looked as tired and hurt as their leaking friend. Tears seemed to be something that everyone had gotten used to over the past week. Everyone had lost some at some point. Gennai himself seemed to have dropped several glassy drops after they all listened to Patamon's terrible wails. _

_Matt and Gabumon sat down beside TK, who had yet to say anything since the attack. Steel eyes met Gennai's weary gaze and there was a stiff silence as Patamon slowly stopped crying. Everyone was still in either anticipation or simply fear that something was to happen. _

"_Why in God's name are we here?" Matt asked. "You sent us that email, and told us to come and help, we came – and now all this _shit _happened. What the fuck happened?" Apparently he wasn't the only one who was mad for soon the others started in as well._

"_Who's side are you really on Gennai? I mean, honestly, you kidnapped TK? Bringing us here almost got us all killed!" Tai shouted. _

"_Was this some sick idea of teaching us a lesson?!" Sora yelled._

"_None of this was my doing." Gennai cut off any of them from continuing their tirade. There was no joking manner in his voice. This was serious, and they accepted that. "The information in that letter was completely true, that was the only thing that I had done. However, I had meant to send that letter to you, three weeks ago. Before I was finished I was attacked, and captured. Patamon was with me at the time – and they couldn't just leave him there for he'd tell you all wouldn't he? So they took him as well. The digimon you fought were some of the last digimon to have been expelled from the Wall of Fire. _

_Abyssmon is a digimon who wanted to control the digital world. That made him different from the other evils you have fought – for they have wanted to control both worlds. He wasn't so greedy, and concentrated on the one thing he had a slight chance in conquering. He had been watching your battles, and when the time was right – he formulated a plan that was nearly flawless. _

_He wanted you to tear yourselves apart. Much like Puppetmon had tried to do, he wanted you all to kill off _each other_. He had two digimon with him, Miragemon and another Miragemon. They could transform into any shape they wanted, within reason. They could only morph into things that they have seen before – and only could do so for approximately four hours. When under attack, depending on the amount of damage done, they can be forced back into their original forms. _

_When I discovered that the digital world was not healing itself as intended, and that there was another force of darkness surrounding the world, I tried to contact you. They noticed, and we were captured. From that point onwards the Patamon and Gennai you've been seeing have been Miragemon. They reappeared and disappeared at specific points in time, but stayed long enough to give an excuse and explain certain phenomena. They stayed relatively close to the truth, however Infiniti Mountain _was _where they were located. They had specifically told you that to keep you away. _

_However, as to the reason they wanted to kidnap TK, it was really because they already had Patamon. Originally it was to be either TK _or_ Kari, however that changed once they had his partner. The reasoning behind it was because they knew from past experiences that Matt would do anything to save and protect his little brother, and Tai would do anything to save and protect his little sister. In the end, conflict was bound to arise – and it did. _

_What they hadn't expected however, was that you all had grown up since you'd last been in the digital world. You still argued, that was to be expected, but you had learned to except each other rather then get angry over another person's needs. Tai should have been behaving like a petulant child refused from his favorite toy, but instead he was doing everything he can to help Matt. That was where the plan went wrong. Abyssmon hadn't expected you to mature out of the digital world. _

_As to the vicious attack on TK, that was not intended. The Miragemon got carried away. They nearly killed him, but Abyssmon saved his life. It's hard to believe, but he did. Furthermore, the black gear that was in his back was put there because since Tai and Matt weren't fighting and tearing the group apart as intended, there had to be something else that would distract them. _

_They knew that Matt would automatically take TK's side, and claim his innocence. However you all might have thought differently – especially when he was trying to hurt you. TK himself didn't know what was happening at the time. Think of it as something a kin to a trance. However he further surprised Abyssmon by fighting the gear. Several times he woke up when back on the mountain, and he had fought it. He had his sense back and was trying to understand what was happening._

_He was shot down of course, however in the end, even with the gear at full power, he still fought it. He could have killed Matt that day, but he let go in the end. Should he have kept strangling him, you would not be alive today Matt." Everyone was silent as they took in the information that was given to them. "I have no right to ask you this, but we still need you to save this world." He added quietly. They all looked at him as though he had three heads. _

"_Bullshit." Matt whispered. "That's utter bullshit." _

"_Matt…as much as we don't really have anything going for us at the moment here – these digimon need a home. We should help if we can, and then we can go back to our world…" Tai replied quietly. _

"_What do we need to do now Gennai…?" Sora asked looking at her own digimon partner. _

"_Release the power to protect the digital world, in order to defeat the forces of darkness for good." Everyone gave him a blank look and he went on to explain that their crests held power in them, and that power once released would reverse any evil done to the digital world at that time. He had no right to ask the digidestined this, after everything they went though. However the children all nodded, and stood. Holding their crests they looked at Gennai. _

"_What do we do now?" Jo asked confused. _

"_First you must concentrate on the power within the crests. The power should be surging through you and when you feel as though you yourself can not contain it any longer let it go. It will leave you and travel across this world, saving it from the evil that has occurred, and banishing the darkness. This is the last thing you have to do here in the digital world. I will not ask for your help again." He replied quietly. _

"_You told us about the crests so our digimon could digivolve to ultimate…if we give up the crests…" Izzi started putting the pieces together._

"_That's right, your digimon will no longer be able to digivolve to ultimate." The digital monsters looked at each other and sighed. _

"_It's okay guys, go ahead, better save our world then to let it be destroyed." Biyomon said with a false smile._

"_Yeah, and besides, if there's no evil, there's no reason to digivolve that far!" Tentomon added. _

"_We may be loosing a part of ourselves, but that's okay, because one day – who knows, we'll get to go back!" Gatomon continued giving her digidestined a smile. The other digimon continued on with their acceptance of this fate, and finally the kids nodded and grasped the crests hard in their hands. _

_Their eyes closed as they concentrated hard on the crests. At first it was as though nothing happened, but then suddenly the world was filled with light. It shone brightly for a while before vanishing, and when they all looked up again the world seemed whole. Far into the distance they could make out land forms, and the ocean appeared to be fuller. Despite themselves they felt a surge of happiness go through them. _

_Twenty minutes later they were around the digiport and were saying their goodbyes. TK hugged Patamon the whole time, never uttering a word. However moments before they were to leave, he released his orange friend and moved towards Gennai. The two looked at each other for a moment before the child hugged him. It was short and quick but the meaning was there. The boy flew to his brother's side soon after that, only turning to wave once they were already starting to disappear into the port. _

_Back in the real world they sat still in the center of Izzi's room for a moment. It was quiet then; no one dared to speak to alert the adults to their presence. The second they walked out of that door, they would be shipped off to the nearest hospital. Matt looked carefully at TK and the boy sighed, bringing his arms across his chest. He nodded slowly, and the group met each other's eyes. _

_Mimi went first, opening the door and stepping out. Izzi's parents looked up from where they were sitting at the table. They had been waiting for the children to come home and were happy to see them. His mother stood, ready to greet them and offer them some food, but that was when Kari, Izzi, Jo, Sora, Tai, Matt, and TK followed Mimi out solemnly. _

"_Oh my god…" The group avoided there eyes for the most part, taking in their reaction after everything that had happened was just too much. They had tried to clean up somewhat, but the evidence of the brutal attack was clear. Even TK, who had a new shirt on, looked completely awful. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were drawn back and haunted. It appeared as though he would break at any minute, and tears would never stop flowing down his cheeks. However there were no tears as they stood there in silence, there was nothing but harsh reality. "You need to go to the hospital…now." _

_They were rushed to the hospital, and in the car they created the excuse of a bear attack when they were camping. It was plausible, considering the extent of damage done to TK's chest and how messed up the others also seemed to be. They had managed to chase the bear away by using burning sticks as torches – throwing and waving it at the creature. After that they'd somehow managed to get down the mountain, calling Izzi's parents for help using the boy genius's satellite phone. _

_In the hospital they were whisked through the waiting room and into_ _individual treatment rooms. TK refused to go anywhere without his brother, and Matt yelled at anyone who tried to tear them apart – it was decided that they could stay with each other. _

_The two brothers were the worst off out of anyone, there was bruising around Matt's neck – the bear had tried to grab him but Tai had managed to get him into a head lock first. When the bear had gotten a hold of TK he had struggled to get at his brother, but Tai wouldn't let go. The other injuries were easily explained enough, but when the got to TK they were completely astounded._

_Immediately he was thrust through the ER's many machines all searching for life threatening problems. They almost had to restrain Matt to keep him from forcing his way into the rooms that his brother kept going into. _

_Their parents were called and that was the last straw for some people. Once the adults heard about the bear attack that changed into the real story, they were livid. Mimi's parents announced that she would have nothing to do with the digital world anymore – they were moving to New York! The kids wanted to protest of course, but at the moment everything that had happened that week had taken its toll. _

_They were all passed out in their individual hospital beds – kept overnight for observation. TK had an IV in his arm that was pumping his body full of much needed nutrients, and had had a blood transfusion earlier that day. His chest had shocked anyone who had seen it, and immediately plastic surgery was being discussed. However he shook his head continually until Matt translated that he didn't want the surgery. _

_The doctors called it post traumatic stress. That's why TK wasn't talking, he was traumatized. People kept talking about him as though he didn't have to know what was going on, ignoring him because he wasn't speaking up. So he simply decided to block out the world and go to sleep. Matt however couldn't deal with that. He sat up listening to everyone discussing what to do about TK's muteness. _

"_We have several treatment plans for PTSD. One of the most commonly used – and one that has a high success rate – is called EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing." The doctor stated quietly, flipping through the boy's charts. _

"_What is that?" Hiroaki asked glancing at his son. _

"_The theory is that PTSD occurs when someone's forced to relieve traumatizing moments in their life. EMDR is used to try to desensitize that moment, make it so that they aren't prone to nightmares or reoccurring flashbacks. In essence it's used to force them to accept what's happening and stop thinking back on it. When he's thinking on the event there will be a doctor telling him to follow an object with his eyes. It'll cause a dual reaction, thus eventually causing him to be used to not concentrating on the memories. The only problem is that he needs to be speaking to do this and so I'm not sure of how successful it will be…" Matt rolled his eyes. They continued to talk and talk and talk, but they weren't really getting anywhere. _

_Later that week, everyone was released from the hospital. They had been cleared for rabies and any other disease that they could have gotten from the bear, and most were comfortably seated in their cars on the way home. _

_TK had begun crying terribly when Nancy tried to move her son to her car and Hiroaki tried to move Matt to another. The younger boy's arms were wrapped around Matt's waist and he refused to leave the boy's side. The older brother also seemed to not want to leave TK, and the adults were lost as to the reason why. Sure, they had always preferred to be together rather then apart, but this was simply getting ridiculous. _

"_What are we supposed to do?" Nancy finally asked looking at her former husband. The man looked at her awkwardly._

"_I'm not sure. We don't even know how long this is going to last for…" Hiroaki said rubbing a hand through his hair. "Matt please…it's time to go." He tried again,_

"_I'm not leaving TK." The boy stubbornly replied. He felt his brother nod against his chest. _

"_TK…please…don't you want to go home?" The younger boy's mother asked. They had noticed that the younger boy would make head and hand motions while his voice was locked away inside him, and had gotten into the habit of asking yes or no questions. _

_The child nodded, but when Nancy tried to pull him away he shook his head (with some difficulty as it was pressed against Matt's chest) furiously – only clutching his brother harder. _

"_I suppose one of us has to take both of them home then…" Nancy said sighing. She didn't mean to say it in a way that made Matt shudder, and she most certainly hadn't meant for him to feel unloved but that was exactly what had happened. Thoughts of years before came flooding back. The terms of the divorce, who would get who, why…it had always hurt Matt, and he doubted his _parents _knew how much. _

"_I'll take them to my place." Hiroaki said suddenly putting a hand on Matt's shoulder. _

"_No! TK's the one who's hurt, he should be in his own home not yours tonight!" Matt forced himself into silence, wondering if they understood how ridiculous they were sounding. The brothers longed for their individual homes, yes, but they wanted to be reaffirmed that if they turned their back on each other for one moment – when they looked back, they'd both still be there. They wanted to know that nothing bad was going to happen if they went off alone. They wanted to know that nothing was going to hurt them. That's what this was all about. In truth, it didn't matter where they went to night, as long as they still could be there – looking over each other. _

_Their parents were arguing heatedly now, and Matt looked up to see that Tai and Kari were still there. While the divorcees were still arguing about who's going home with who; Matt led TK and himself over to their friends. Kari waved at TK, who gave her haunted smile and waved back slightly. Their friend's own parents were watching the arguing take place in complete awe. _

"_Tai, you think your parents will let us go home with you guys tonight?" Matt asked, glancing back at the fight. Mrs. Kamiya must have heard because she said it was fine. TK un-hooked himself from Matt's side and glanced up at his brother nodding his affirmative. The older boy nodded back and looked at their parents before shouting over. "We're sleeping over Tai's house tonight." Both of the adults fell silent looking at their children in awe._

"_What? Don't you want to come home?" Hiroaki asked in surprise. _

"_We do, but it doesn't matter whose home we go to now, you'll be arguing about it and getting mad about it anyway." _

"_Matt…please…I'm his mother…" The familiar fury and feeling of loss crashed down on him so hard that Matt felt he couldn't breathe. He closed his eyes and pretended he couldn't feel TK's eyes looking up at him innocently, trying to understand his brother's pain. When he opened them, the woman was still there with that look on her face that she had once reserved for him. _

"_Yes, and I'm his brother." He motioned for Tai to lead the way and the brunette made a head movement towards his parents and instantly they all had made their way to the parking lot. _

**Windstar: **This chapter is shorter then the rest, because there's a lot of things that happened in this, and because I have chapter eight done at the moment and I couldn't add any present day scenes without messing up the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this, chapter eight will be up either tomorrow or the day after.

I'm on vacation again! So chapters will update a lot more frequently for a while.


	8. Chapter 8

"**_Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it." – Tori Amos_**

Matt watched his parents grow completely silent over a span of ten minutes. At first they had attempted small talk, to get over the awkward situation that had just transpired, however that just went into a downward spiral rather quickly. He hadn't even tried to participate, because now that things were said, the only thing they'd end up talking about in the end was when TK found out. Of course, that would become the Blame Game, and that wasn't something the teen wanted to even think about at the moment.

He closed his eyes and wondered where his 'magic button' went to. Kashino had given him an IV, when he first got out of surgery, and a button, saying that when pressed he'd get a morphine injection. He always wondered what it felt like to be high on morphine, as TV tended to show a very loopy and crazy reaction to the drug. That isn't to say that he ever wanted to experiment with drugs, simply that he wondered what it felt like to be on them. Yet there he was in this completely awkward silence, with both of his _parents_ in the room, and he couldn't find his magic button.

He rolled over on his good side and tried to alleviate his ankle and arm any pain that laying on it was causing. It didn't work. He sighed and rolled over again, trying to get comfortable. Whenever the extremely long and taxing conversation was to take place, he at least wanted to be comfortable when it did.

"Matt…" Oh great, here it comes. "Did you tell TK…?" Hiroaki asked hesitantly.

"Nope." He replied sighing and trying to get comfortable.

"Then how did- " Nancy started, only to be cut off.

"He heard us yelling about it."

"What?" Hiro asked surprised.

"The day he started talking again, he heard us yelling about it." Matt replied looking out the window. "I just explained when he asked."

**_Four years ago:_**

_Matt opened the door to the apartment and surprise didn't even begin to cover it when he saw the woman standing there. She had long blonde hair that cascaded down her back, and her eyes were bright blue. She had a purse hanging off of her shoulder, and was wearing semi formal clothes._

_In all honesty Matt hadn't seen the woman in three years. The first time he had ever seen here was three months before his father's divorce, and the last time was on TK's sixth birthday. Neither times had been pleasant, and he was surprised she had the audacity to show up (especially after his father threatened to call the cops on her). _

"_What do you want?" He asked getting ready to close the door on her. _

"_Is that any way to treat your mother?" She asked leaning in, daring him to say yes – he rose to the challenge._

"_You're not my mother." He closed the door, only to have it jam on her boot she had put in the way._

"_Let me in I want to talk to you." She said, looking at him closely. _

"_I have company." He stated, glancing back and wondering if TK was listening. They had all opted to keep TK in the dark on the terms of the divorce. Matt was sure the boy was going to find out some day though – he'd asked about it enough – however right now wasn't the time for him to overhear anything._

"_No you don't." She replied starting to pry the door open. As much as Matt hated the thought of it, he had wanted to get to know the woman for most of his childhood. There was a time when he would skip school and spend the day with her. It was something surreal, meeting your mother when you were five. Five years of living with someone who you believed to be something else, only to have your world be shifted. _

"_I do." He replied, though he let the door open again. He needed to make her leave, even if it was just to arrange another date to do this. _

"_Mattie; let me in." She said eyes boring into the boy. The twelve year old sighed looking back inside the house. _

"_I really do have company." He replied. _

"_Who then?" She asked, her eyes flaring with annoyance. _

"_My brother." He shot back. A look of repulsion crossed her face. It was the main reason why he had refused to see her ever again, and why his father had threatened to call the cops. _

"_He's not your brother." She snapped._

"_And you're not my mother." He tried to close the door again, but she jammed it. _

"_No, I'm not _his_ mother. Now let me in I want to speak with you about something."_

"_Look, Harumi, I don't want you here. Please leave." He tried to close the door again, but she stopped him._

"_He doesn't know does he?" She asked mockingly. Matt growled and opened the door just to slam it back down – hard on her foot. The woman yelped, but still didn't move. _

"_I will break your foot. Now move." He was about to close the door again when a small hand touched his free arm. He turned at froze at the sight of his little brother standing there with wide eyes. He didn't have time to slam the door down on Harumi's foot again before she addressed the little boy. _

"_You must be Takeru, I'm Harumi." To her credit, and to Matt's relief, she hadn't attempted to say she was Matt's mother. She hadn't even brought it up at all. TK buried his head in Matt's side, the older boy placing an arm around his shoulders. He turned to look at the woman who just watched the transaction in surprise. _

"_Goodbye." He said moving to close the door._

"_What in gods name do you think you're doing here?" Shit. Their father was home. Harumi's foot was still in the doorway, and now that the game was up, Matt opened it fully, revealing himself and TK to not only Hiroaki but also Nancy. Double shit. _

"_I want to talk to Mattie about something." The blonde in question's eyes narrowed at the nickname, he really _hated _that nickname. It was something about how easily everyone tossed it around, and how a fair number of bad guys (in both worlds) had thought it fun to call him that. But more then that, it was the name of the child he never was, and that hurt._

"_Hey TK, why don't you head over to Kari's house without me? I'll catch up in a little bit." The ten year old met his brother's gaze and shook his head. "Just give me five minutes okay? I can call Tai let him know you're on your way over." Again the boy shook his head, but this time he slid past the group of adults and started his way down the stairs. _

"_Quiet." Harumi mentioned once TK was out of ear shot._

"_Didn't used to be." Matt muttered turning around and walking back into the house. The grown ups followed him into the sitting room, where they all took seats on opposite sides of it. Matt leaned against the wall, closest to his father. "What do you want?" He snapped. Things were just starting to get better between them all, and now she had to show up again after three years. _

"_I want custody over Matt." The young blonde's eyes bulged at the comment, his head turning to look at his father's astounded face and then back at Harumi. Even Nancy looked stunned. _

"_What?" He managed, mouth still gaping like a fish. He'd never really considered living with the woman. Sure he had wanted to get to know her, but _live _with her? She was more of an adult figure that he knew, rather then a mother figure. _

"_I want custody." She reached into her purse, pulling out several documents. "I've been talking to my lawyers for the past few years now, and have had Private Investigators working the case." She looked at Matt's stunned eyes before smiling. "I want custody."_

"_No." He said in time with Hiroaki. Matt glanced at his father._

"_No, you can't have custody." The man said angrily._

"_From what I've discovered, you're not fit to be a father Hiro." She said with a flip of the wrist, handing the papers to Matt for him to see. _

"_And how am I not fit to be a father?!" He shouted getting to his feet and snatching the papers away from his eldest. _

"_You work twelve hours a day, Matt walks himself to school and back. He cooks himself food, and he's the one who takes care of the house – if you can call this mess 'taken care of.' Look at this place, you live like slobs!" She took a breath, waving her hand to show the mess that was laid out everywhere. "And my sources tell me that he was admitted to a hospital last year because of a _bear _attack, not just him either; him and seven of his little friends, including that brother of his. There wasn't even an adult on that little excursion of theirs, it was just-" She looked at a piece of paper she had just retrieved from her purse. "Six twelve year olds and two nine year old kids in the middle of the woods – alone! You call that parenting?" Hiroaki looked at Matt who had visibly paled at the mention of the hospital visit. They couldn't refute that one. They had gone to the digital world, and the parents couldn't go there…_

"_You think you could do a better job?" Nancy asked speaking up, her eyes glancing at Matt for a moment. They'd gone on a few lunch dates while TK was going in and out of the hospital on a regular basis, they'd gotten slightly closer. It wasn't much, but the tension between them had dropped some. _

"_You know, you really have no say in this, you don't even have partial custody." Harumi said rolling her eyes. The other woman got to her feet and moved right up to the blonde. Before anyone knew what happened, she raised a palm and slapped the woman hard across the face. _

"_I don't care what you think, I don't care what the law says, but that boy was _my _son for seven years! So no, maybe I don't have custody over him – but I refuse to believe he would be better off with a whore like you!" The two males stared in shock at the sight. Matt's eyes were wide in disbelief; he couldn't remember the last time Nancy had stood up for him, let alone cursed at someone._

"_Mom…" He whispered in shock. Both women turned to him, but his eyes were locked on the darker haired one. _

"_She's not your mother." Harumi snapped back. The boy looked at her._

"_She may not be my _mother_ but she's still my mom. I don't want to live with you." Harumi looked quite taken aback by the whole thing. "You put me in an orphanage." She started to deny the accusation, but he cut her off. "You called up dad, and told him you were pregnant, and when you gave birth, you put me in an orphanage. Dad adopted me the next day and took me home, gave me to mom because she had a miscarriage a year earlier and was still broken up about it. You say you want to be my mother _now _but why did it take you seven fucking years to come forward then? If you really wanted me you would have kept me instead of giving me up." The woman seemed stunned by the allegations, but still the boy didn't back down. "And now, because of you and your stupid need to try to take me away from _my _family, my parents got divorced. I hardly used to see my brother because of this, and now that he's fucking traumatized because of this _bear _attack you're blaming my father for, you want to take me away? Screw you. I'm not living with you, you're not getting custody over me, and you can just go to hell lady." He made to walk out of the room, but she grabbed hold of his arm. Matt however refused to be stopped; he simply shoved her away from him and out the door – straight into TK. _

_The two looked at each other for a long time before Matt wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders. He should have known better really, since when had TK ever been okay with being away from his brother for very long after the attack?_

_TK's mind was a buzz; he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Matt wasn't his brother? He wasn't going to live with this father anymore? That woman earlier was _really _Matt's mom? That's why his parents divorced? Because of Matt?_

_Somehow they had found themselves in a park about a mile away from Matt's apartment building. They slumped onto a bench and just sat in total silence for a while. The older boy didn't know what to say, and the younger was still reeling in shock. It seemed unfathomable. Nothing made sense anymore. _

_TK's eyes were locked on his brother's face. They looked the same. The same angled face, the same eyes – only his were narrower. They had the same smile…they _had _to be brothers…right? They'd lived as brothers…_

"_Ma-" The sound was foreign on his lips and the younger boy coughed slightly. His brother looked at him for a moment in shock, as though he couldn't believe his ears, yet he was gifted again with another sound. "Matt…" TK looked so lost, as he gazed into his brother's shocked eyes. "You-you're my brother are-aren't you?" He asked, before coughing slightly. The words felt so wrong coming from him after all of this time. His voice wasn't familiar. It still seemed to be the high pitched voice of a nine year old child, not the ten year old sound of a developing adolescent. Was that because he hadn't used it in so long? Matt was looking at him cautiously, as though this noise would never be used again, but he did reply. _

"_Yes TK…I am your brother." _

"_But-but Mom…she's not…your mother?" The stutter started to dissipate as his voice found courage. He coughed again. It felt as though his throat was dusty, not used to being used. _

"_No." He whispered. "You're mom's first born." Matt closed his eyes, the words were hard to say. Even for him._

"_I don't understand, there are pictures…of mom pregnant – with you! Dad showed them to us…remember?" _

"_I know." He opened his blue orbs, and looked at his brother silently. "They weren't of me." _

"_But dad…he said…'this is mom pregnant with Mattie' I heard him!" The little boy seemed to be on the brink of tears. _

"_Mattie isn't me." Matt chocked out. TK looked at him confused._

"_But you're Matt!" _

"_I am, but I am _not _Mattie. Your mom…Nancy…she's not my mother, but she was pregnant before you."_

"_With Mattie?" _

"_Yes, with Mattie." He took a deep breath. "Mom had a miscarriage when she was five months along…dad and her were so distraught that their relationship was on unsteady grounds. Dad…he went to a bar one night, and after a few drinks…met this woman – Harumi. One thing led to another; and in the end – she got pregnant…with me. It put dad in an awkward position, because he loved mom, but he also didn't want to abandon a kid he had out in the world. But Harumi didn't want to be pregnant…she wanted to have an abortion and be done with it. Dad talked her out of it, and nine months later I was born. She immediately put me in an orphanage. I stayed there for about a month while Dad was trying to rack me down…and when he did he adopted me and brought me home. I'm still your brother TK."_

"_Why does she want you now…"_

"_I don't know, because she sick and on every drug known to man?" TK gave him another confused look; and he sighed. "She's a bit of a drug addict TK, she has some major issues…I don't think you remember this, but she threatened to kill you once." The younger boy's eyes widened with shock. _

"_What? Why?"_

"_Because you were taking me away from her. Look she's deluded and insane, I wanted to get to know her when I was younger, but now I don't want anything to do with her. I haven't since she said she wanted to kill you."_

"_It's because of all of this that…mom and dad divorced isn't it…" Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was waiting for that. He had been blaming himself for the divorce ever since it happened, and now his little brother was blaming him as well. His parents, though they'd never say it, also had resentment towards him (he was sure)._

"_Yes." He opened his eyes in time to see TK wrapping his arms around his neck. _

"_Don't go away Matt…" _

TK flopped onto his motel room's bed, his eyes closed as his hand clutched his chest. No one understood the importance of that scar to him. Even after the attack, when his blood was running cold for nearly a year – he still hadn't wanted it to go away. The whole point of that scar was the plain and simple fact of remembrance. It was forever a symbol showing him that he couldn't trust everyone, introducing him to the dark. It was a symbol that stood for pain that could be caused by his hands even if he didn't think it was possible.

For that reason, he would never erase it from his body. It would be there always as a picture of who he was – who he could be. After Kari had first disappeared to the world of the Dark Ocean, he had conversed with the girl about it. They had both arrived to the same conclusion that as that scar contained a part of TK, the dark side of him; it was how he could create rifts in the worlds. TK himself was not dark, but when he yearned for something to be done, it would occur.

He shivered, and brought a hand to his face to wipe the rain off of it. It hadn't stopped raining since Matt was admitted into the hospital. He wondered if it was simply coincident or not, but regardless, it was very wet. He had opted to walking back from the hospital, but had made it only three miles before someone passing by offered to give him a lift home. He had accepted, and gratefully clambered into the vehicle.

The man had tried to make small talk, but he wouldn't reply, simply staring out the window and remembering his parent's faces. Oh their faces were what had gotten to him. How dare they look so shocked, how dare they put Matt through what they did, and looked so pained when they discovered TK knew. How dare they? He was hurting inside, his parent's faces refused to leave him.

Matt had only been seven when he had discovered the terms of his birth. How was it fair that he only could share seven years with Nancy, while TK had been able to spend fifteen? TK hadn't understood why his brother and mother never talked before he had overheard Harumi's conversation with them.

Even so…didn't Nancy know how much Matt cared about her? He had always loved her as his mother, only he had been lost as to how to express those feelings. After all…who wants to talk about love to the son of an affair?

TK rolled over before sitting up, shaking his head and sending rain drops flying. There was a knock at the door and he turned around, frowning. He walked over to it and opened it, smiling slightly when he saw Kari. She had a pink rain jacket on, and jeans that were sopped with puddle water.

"Can I come in?" She asked smiling slightly. TK nodded and opened the door wide, allowing her entrance. She squeezed past him and entered the room as quickly as possible, removing her rain jacket and shaking her hair loose from the hood. He closed the door behind her and moved back to the bed.

"What are you doing here?" He asked quietly, cocking his head to one side as she moved and kneeled before him. Her arms reached out and wrapped around him gently, hugging her close to him. He felt himself slipping off the side of the bed, and soon was sitting on the floor, leaning against it. The actions of his girlfriend were odd but he suddenly felt content having her there with him. His arms went around her in turn, and they stayed like that for several minutes before she finally spoke at last.

"Are you okay?" She said softly into his ear.

"No, I'm TK." He whispered trying to make her laugh

"I'm being serious."

"I'm always ok."

"Matt told me what happened."

"That's odd." He said wondering why Matt would tell Kari about their family's history just like that.

"Tai knew." She replied. TK made an affirmative sound; Tai did know…Matt had let it slip on their first night at the digital world. "You'd tell me if you weren't alright wouldn't you?" She leaned back, hands cupping his face gently.

"Of course not." He replied cheekily with a bright smile. She didn't find it funny.

"TK…"

"I'd never worry you, you know that." He said, she frowned. He didn't know what drove him to do it, but suddenly he leaned forward, lips touching hers. She froze and hee pulled back moments later meeting her eyes. "Sorry…"

"For what?" She asked casually. "You just surprised me…that's all." She leaned forward and kissed him, hands dropping down to touch his chest. TK's eyes drifted closed somewhat, his own hands cupping hers.

Kari backed up a little bit and he opened his eyes slowly. "What…?" He asked, as she placed a hand over his mouth. He looked up at her confused when suddenly he was feeling very tired…

"You're to trusting." She whispered into his ear. TK tried to force his heavy lids open more, but found he couldn't. He passed out just as she changed form, now in the shape of Hiroaki. "Don't worry little boy…" he said unnecessarily. "I'm here to kill you brother…not you." He moved to pick the teen up when he heard something from behind him.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon shouted happily watching the fake as he flew against the wall. TK fell to the ground, unconscious. His fake father stood, anger clearly showing on his face. Again though, he was shot, and again he went down.

Patamon had been sleeping when Kari came in, but he woke up five minutes ago and was shocked to see the startling transformation of the girl. He flew down and pushed TK's head, trying to wake the boy up – nothing.

"What did you do?!" He shouted at the fake.

"He isn't dead. I wouldn't kill _him._" Hiroaki's double said going to it's feet and changing shape again.

The battle was no more then five minutes and soon TK was gone, in the hands of a creature dead set to kill his brother.

**Windstar: **I tried to hint that things weren't right in the past few chapters. In the episode Garurumon, there was a mistake in the dubbing where Matt tells Tai "We're half brothers so we don't get to see each other that much." It kind of gave me the idea of them truly being half brothers. Furthermore, the scene in the last chapter was from Fusion Confusion. The conversation with Izzi is also a sparker of this series. As things start getting more and more intense, note that I'm going to continue using things from the series.

Sorry for the delay, I tried to update Saturday, but been glitchy until today!


	9. Chapter 9

"Matt!" Tai slammed the door open to his friend's hospital room and the teen sat up blearily as he looked at his friend who'd brought a wheel chair and a saddlebag with him. It had been nearly twenty-four since the talk with his father and former mother and he'd tried to get some rest until TK showed up again. "TK's missing, I just stopped by the motel – Patamon was unconscious and there were signs of a struggle! We have to go he'll be after you next."

Matt's eyes flashed and he threw the blankets off of him as he moved to stand up. Tai rushed to his side and helped him to sit down in the chair. They moved quickly and they both understood that any moment something could drastically change their escape plans. However now was not the time to talk about what could happen they needed to move fast.

"What did Patamon say?" Matt asked as he hissed moving his arm closer to his body as Tai started to maneuver him through the door and down the hall.

"Kari was at the door apparently and TK let her in, they started talking and then he started to pass out. Right about then she began to change shape – into your father."

"Miragemon?" Anger filled the teen's heart.

"Yeah, apparently he's been biding his time after the rift between the worlds so he can exact his revenge."

"Does anyone know where TK is right now?" Tai opened a door in front of them and wheeled the injured digidestined through it. Then he leaned in close to his friend.

"At the bottom of these stairs." And with that he pushed the chair and slammed Matt down the staircase.

The teen yelled trying to grab the banister to stop the chair but it tipped and he smashed his head against it as he tumbled and rolled down them and slamming into the wall at the foot of the stairs. The teen groaned and tried to move but his body was over come with to much pain, his eyes watered and just as they were about to close they widened in shock. TK was lying unconscious just across from him, only a hairs breath away from touching him. There was nothing either of them could do before Tai came walking down the stairs and staring at him in contempt.

Matt groaned trying to move, his hand attempting to push his body up. He looked at his brother's still form and hissed as he tried to move. The digimon moved towards him, dropping the saddle bag near the stairs and crouched down as he stared at him. A hand reached out and grabbed the yellow locks.

"You piss me off." The slap stung, but it didn't faze Matt in the least. He glanced back at TK. "He's not dead." Tai's double said. He looked at the boy. "He'll just die later, but not by me." Matt's eyes narrowed. "I've been getting to know you and your family for a while."

"You don't know anything about my family." Matt hissed as he tried to get out of his hold. He was slammed against the back wall.

"I met your mother." Matt's eyes widened. His heart pounded hard against his chest. "I looked like your brother." Steel eyes looked down at the still form of TK. "We made a deal." His eyes narrowed as he saw glimmers of tear drops slowly form in his brother's eyes. "We agreed that she was going to bring _his_ mother to the bridge after dark last night. They were going to discuss you and an apology to be given and a promise to stay out of your lives forever. Of course she would there kill her there." TK's eyes were opening slowly and Matt tried his best not to glance down to much at his brother in order not to draw the digimon's attention. It wasn't hard considering the panic that was slowly building up in his chest. He hadn't seen his mother all day.

"My mother is not dead." Matt hissed. TK was attempting to sit up, he wasn't succeeding, but he was very quiet. Tai didn't glance back at all.

"No, _your _mother is not dead. _His _mother _is_ dead." Tai motioned back at TK. He didn't look, because the teen had frozen still at what was being said. "Thrown off the bridge. She drowned."

"You're lying." Matt snapped. TK had nearly made it to his feet. He was struggling heavily. He was still crying but the tears were slowing down just enough for Matt to see the anger in his eyes. "You're going to regret every saying that though." Tai smirked.

"Do you want to know what the rest of the deal was?" He leaned in. "That she would get you away from Hiroaki. That she would take you for good." Tai smiled sickly. "But she's never going to see you again; Tai's going to kill you." The digimon laughed loudly. "You don't get it do you? Everything that's happened was because of me. I was driving that car when it hit you. I was the doctor that was going to restrain you and spirit away your brother. I was everyone who led up to this moment with you."

TK was finally on his feet. He took a quiet step forward. His hand raised and formed a fist. Matt glanced at his brother and then back at Tai. The teen's hand easily slipped into the bag that Tai had dropped. He pulled out a knife. TK's eyes were unfocused but he was dead set on one thing. Killing Miragemon.

"Tai's going to kill you and then I'm going to walk out of here. You're going to lay here dead; your brother's going to wake up. He's going to see your mangled body and then? With a little quiet word in his ear, it will be so easy for him to believe that he was the cause of your death, and then…he will kill himself." Matt took a deep breath before closing his eyes. He didn't want to see this.

"I don't think so you son of a bitch." TK threw the knife down and imbedded it in Tai's head. Miragemon's eyes widened drastically and his body mutated back to it's original form and then slumped to the side before dissipating into millions of tiny pieces and vanishing from site.

TK breathed heavily, his eyes moving back and forth quickly before he fell to his knees and coughed heavily. Matt groaned and tried to sit up. TK was heaving heavily; the mess just barely missing his brother. He was shaking slightly and Matt was struggling heavily to get to him.

"TK? TK? Takeru, little brother, little brother – come here!" Matt tried to push himself up, but his new injuries were forcing him down. He couldn't do it, and he hissed in pain and aggravation as he attempted to do it again. "TK…please….brother…" His vision was fading, and no one knew that they were down there. There was no way that TK could possibly go get help, and he would not be able to climb the stairs. "TK, TK, TK, please….please…little brother!" The smaller blonde collapsed to the ground beside his brother, and struggled to get closer to his older brother.

"Matt…" He groaned. "He did something to me…"

"TK…TK what did he do?"

"I can't…move…" Matt tried to get his arm to wrap around his brother's shoulders, but it wouldn't budge. He blinked blearily. _What is going on…_He tried to move again, but he failed. He glanced around and his eyes stared at the digimon's saddlebag. Something was leaking. It was getting all over the floor. He felt his eyes closing. He was loosing focus.

His last thought was that this was a crappy way to die.

_Many years ago._

"_Yamato Ichida?" Matt looked up, his attention wavering from his crayon. "Your mother's here to pick you up for an appointment, she's waiting for you outside."_

_Matt nodded quickly and ran over to gather his things. He said his goodbyes quickly and rushed out the door. There was a woman standing by the gates, and as he moved over there he stopped short. _

"_You're not my mommy." He said in confused tone. "Where is she?" _

"_Nancy…is not your mother Mattie. That's your name isn't it? Yamato…Matt…Mattie?"_

"_Mattie…yeah…mommy's not my mommy?"_

"_No…come with me." _

_**One Month Later**_

_Glasses were breaking as Hiroaki dodged a plate flying at his head. Matt stood frozen in the doorway his eyes wide with shock. He was shaking slightly at the fury coming off of his mother as she screamed at Hiroaki. She was yelling terrible things and pointing at him on occasion. _

"_You cheated on me!" She yelled as she threw a glass. "That child…that child!"_

"_He is _our _son!" Hiroaki tried to reason. _

"_Everyone always says…they always say he looks like TK. That's not possible. That boy…tell me it isn't true. Tell me that boy isn't ours. Tell me he's still _my _baby!" Matt's eyes watered as his mother looked at him. _

"_Momma?" He tried. _

"_He isn't ours…but he is mine."_

"_Get him out of here." Nancy was crying heavily now. Her eyes were staring straight at Matt. She couldn't hide the disgust that covered her face. "Get him out! Get him out! I don't want to see him any more. I don't want him! Give him back! Give him back!" Hiro was frozen at even the thought of his son leaving. "Give him back to that whore." _

"_Momma?" Matt took a step forward, his arms out stretched as he tried to reach her. The slap that landed across his cheek petrified him and he felt tears forming in his eyes. Hiro moved Nancy away from his son and brought the shocked boy closer to him. _

"_Take him away from here." Nancy whispered quietly. "I need him to go away. Please Hiro…I can't take this." _

"_Momma…"_

"_Mattie I need you to go outside can you do that?" Hiroaki asked him quietly. _

"_Momma I…" Nancy whirled about._

"_I am not your mother!" She screamed "And you are not my son! You are _not_ Mattie!" Tears filled the boy's eyes and he turned and ran. He ran quickly out the door and when he got there he grabbed the railing and breathed heavily and wailed._

_**Four years later. **_

"_Matt…" TK hugged his brother. "Why did our parents divorce? I love you." _

"_I don't know TK…I don't know." It hurt to much to say that it was because of him._

_**Three Years Later. **_

"_Matt…I'm sorry…You were really hurt by the divorce weren't you." _

"_Yeah mom. I was." _

_**Yesterday.**_

"_I love you Matt, I'm so sorry that the past few years have been hard on you." _

"Goodbye."

Windstar: Apologies for the lateness of this. I have the next chapter finished and it will be uploaded by the end of the week at the latest. Merry Christmas!


	10. Chapter 10

Dedicated to: Spellcasterz for being my 100th reviewer.

The end:

Matt groaned when he opened his eyes. His head was aching badly and his arm was even worse. He couldn't even feel his ankle - he wondered if that was a bad thing. His vision was blurry but he heard someone call his name and he could just make out a dark shape leaning over him and asking him if he was alright. He knew that voice. Tai. He blinked blearily and tried to move but Tai's hand pressed down on his shoulder gently.

"No, stay still, you're badly injured." He said kindly.

"TK?" Matt whispered painfully. He could almost focus in on Tai's face and he blinked once more to ensure that it stayed that way. There...everything came into focus and he glanced around the room. There was a bed next to him and on it he saw his brother's still form. He gasped and tried to sit up, but once more Tai pushed him down.

"He's alright, just asleep. The hospital staff wanted to make sure he got some rest. They're keeping him here for observation then he's free to go. You too, your injuries aren't as bad as they could have been and you're allowed to go home tomorrow. The press is all over the hospital though, so your dad had to call the police and request that someone stay outside the door to keep people from coming in. You can't open the curtains either, they've been trying to take photos of you from the window."

"What happened?" Matt asked.

"An orderly found you and TK passed out at the bottom of that staircase, they called for help and when they got to you both they found out that you both had breathed in a large amount of cloroform. Which, if you didn't know, is fatal if you inhale to much of it. Anyway, you both were thrown into the ICU and TK went into surgery this morning."

"Surgery?" Matt asked in confusion. "What happened?" Tai sighed an walked over to the other bed before sliding up the younger teen's T- shirt. The rock star felt his temper raise as he saw that the scarring was gone. It looks like someone took advantage of his silence.

"He's going to be pissed when he wakes up." The blonde deduced before closing his eyes and counting to ten. Tai nodded and moved back to his friend's side.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?" Matt met his friend's eyes and sighed. He motioned for help sitting up and Tai pressed the button to make the bed angle upwards. Getting in a more comfertable position he explained the events that took place over the past few days. He talked about how TK was getting a feeling that something was wrong, how Miragemon had been responsible for everything that happened recently - including the carcrash, the fight in the cafeteria, and throwing Matt down the stairs after kidnapping TK. Tai sat quietly through it all, and listened carefully. He didn't interupt at anytime and when the digidestined of Friendship was finished he ran a hand through his hair. "Is my mom really dead?" Matt asked quietly before glancing away from his friend.

Tai looked at his hands in silence, he couldn't look Matt in the eyes. The singer looked up at the cieling and felt tears coming to his eyes. He coudldn't accept that. He wouldn't be able to accept that. Nancy and him had been getting better recently. Not by much, but they did talk more then they had after the divorce. They talked more frequently after she had told Harumi off. Now he'd never truly rectify that relationship with her. It hurt. He wanted to roll on his side and cry, but every part of his body protested that with a passion.

The door opened to his room and he tried to blink back the tears. When he looked up, he gasped. His father and his mother both stood there with Kari. Nancy had a bandaid on her forehead but that was all. She was fine. He forced himself to fully sit up and didn't bother trying to stop the long streams of tears that were pouring down his face as he looked at his mother. Miragemon lied. Harumi hadn't killed her.

"Mattie..." She whispered and for the first time his heart soared, she hadn't called him that since he was a baby. Not after the divorce especially. She had refused to call him that. That was her son's name. Never his. She lifted her arms and ran to his side, her arms wrapping around his body and holding him close to her chest as she cried and cried. She couldn't stop and with every passing second she cried harder. Even the onlookers had difficulty hiding their tears. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She wailed as she hugged him closer then ever before.

Matt didn't care though, he just wanted to melt into his mother's arms and never leave. He wanted to live with her again, wanted to come home after school and see her there with his father and brother. He wanted to know she'd always be there for him. Then he remembered. She came to the hospital. She didn't have to. She'd called TK, asked him if he was in the accident. He wasn't...but she still came.

She came with his father. They were together. They had to have been together before they got the call. Hiroaki wouldn't have called her if they weren't together.

She was worried about him. She had thought he was going to die and she'd come. She really did love him. She loved him, and he couldn't stop crying at that revelation. His mother loved him. She loved him more then just a bastard of his father's. He was her child and she accepted that.

"Your father...your father and I..." She was sobbing heavily and she pulled back so she could place a kiss on his forehead, his cheeks, she was uncontrollable now and no one tried to stop her. "We're going to make this work." She said as she rubbed his face with her thumbs as she cupped it lovingly. "We're going to get back together. Alright?"

His heart soared and he felt like getting hit by a car was the best thing that could ever have happened to him.

"Okay mom." He said tearfully. Finally things were getting better. Finally things were looking up.

TWELVE MONTHS LATER

TK was sitting on his bed in excitement. Matt was coming back from his tour and he he yipped in delight. He had been bouncing off walls waiting to see his brother come back. Their parents had gotten married only four months after they'd been let out of the hospital and he had been able to walk just fine at the wedding.

Their injuries were all healed and they were both doing well. The only thing that had been a dark spot in their year was a final visit by Harumi.

She had knocked on the door when him and Matt were home alone. Matt went to the door and opened it with a laugh. Sora was supposed to come over with Kari and the four of them were going to go on a double date. Everything had been going extremely well lately and the brothers were thrilled with the amount of time they'd been able to spend with each other.

"Mattie?" Instantly the door slammed shut and Matt walked over to where TK was sitting. He sat down and picked up his hand in the card game they were playing. He easily ignored the knocking that was occuring at the door and TK didn't press it.

Only when Harumi went around their new house and knocked on the back glass doors that peered in on the brothers did Matt do anything. He stood up and went to the phone, easily dialing the police. He said a few words and explained the situation. Then he went and opened the door and let Harumi inside.

"I want to talk to you." She looked at TK and blanched before looking back at Matt. She couldn't understand how either brother could stand being near each other after what "TK" commissioned her to do.

"I don't want to talk to you." He replied easily enough. TK moved from where he was lieing on the ground to his knees.

"Please I want to be your mother. Let me take you home with me, please!" Matt's eyes glared at her fully.

"I have a mother, and you will never be her." Her hand shot out and she attempted to pull him into a hug, but Matt grabbed it and slammed it against the nearest table, he ignored the snapping sound of bone breaking and the scream she let out because of it.

"You are not my mother!" At that moment the there was a knock at the door and TK rushed to get it. He let the police come in and they arrested the woman for violating the terms of her restraining order. She screamed and cried and tried to get at Matt, but nothing worked. He simply wished the officers a good day and went back to his card game.

"I'm your mother! I'm your mother Mattie!" But nothing mattered. Both siblings knew who she was to them. Absolutely nothing.

And life was finally good again.

As for TK? He never thought about darkness or evil things for the rest of his life. He even thanked his parents for getting rid of it for him. Afterall, why would he need a symbol of hopelessness on him, if his every being was that of Hope?

Windstar: I hoped you liked this. This is the end, It's been a long haul but this story finally hit my dream. 100+ reviews. I'd like to take the time to thank every single one of my reviewers. I love hearing from you and the more I write and hear your reactions the more I understand how an audiance would feel in that sort of situation.

This story was mainly about getting hope back, my hope, and my dreams, are closely tied into the fanfiction universe. In the future I have been training and studying to become an actress with a degree in writing and directing. I want to make stories like these where fans can truly get in depth and enjoy their characters.

I know this story wasn't perfect - spelling and gramatical errors did exist. However your kind words and motivation truly were the limelight of this story. I hope that sometime in the future you'll read other fics that I've written (if you so desire to) but right now I'd like you all to truly follow /your/ dreams. Each and every one of you has a hope or aspiration and /I/ truly hope that you can make those dreams come alive.

Thanks again to everyone and I hope you have a great new year!

Signed, Arin Maximus 


End file.
